SURPRISE, Ariz. – No. 11 and second-seeded Hawai'i Pacific University hung on throughout a nearly four-hour marathon match to defeat No. 20 Azusa Pacific 4-3 in the semifinals of the 2019 PacWest Conference Championships at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.
 
The 11th ranked Sharks (12-5) advance to the championship match, while the Cougars (13-8) play for third place on Saturday. It was the second time this season HPU defeated APU, with the Sharks taking a similar 4-3 win at Azusa on Feb. 6.
 
The Sharks got the win on the gutsy play of junior Elisa Elhadj of Basel, Switzerland, who overcame an injured leg in the third set to defeat Anna Savchenko 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 singles in the last flight to finish.
 
Elhadj was up 3-0 in the third set when she got hurt when landing on a serve and needed a full medical timeout before continuing. She pushed through and got the score to 5-1 before Savchenko got a service break as part of a 3-0 run to get the set to 5-4. After the changeover, Elhadj served put the match away with on the next game to send the defending PacWest Champion Sharks to the conference title match.
 
The match was a struggle from the get go.
 
The Sharks won the doubles point 2-1. HPU's 17th ranked duo of Elhadj and Elodie Busson took down 39th ranked Jacky Wagner and Kara Hinton 6-3 at No. 1, but the Cougars responded with Savchenko and April Wong beating Mihoki Miyahara and Sara Ikioka 6-4 at No. 2. It was the Sharks No. 3 pair that came through, as Debora Echeverria and Heloise Le Normand came from behind to beat APU's Petra Ivankovic and Audrey Stewart 7-5 to win the point for the Sharks.
 
APU tied the match at 1-1 with the first singles win at No. 5 as Wong defeated Ikioka 6-2, 6-2.
 
The Sharks responded with Le Normand taking a 6-3, 6-3 win over Mikayla Rinker at No. 6, only to have the Cougars Wagner pick up the win over Echeverria 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4 for a 2-2 tie.
 
Miyahara gave the Sharks the 3-2 lead by beating Hinton 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3, setting up the showdown at the top of the lineup, as both the No. 1 and No. 2 spots split sets.
 
At No. 1, HPU's 22nd ranked Busson had taken the first set from APU's 28th ranked Ivankovic 6-3, before Ivankovic battled through the second set to a 6-6 tie. Busson got up 5-3 in the tie breaker before Ivankovic responded with four straight points to take the tiebreaker 7-5 and the set 7-6. The third set went back and fourth with Ivankovic overcoming a 4-3 deficit to take the final set 6-4. It tied the match at 3-3 all with only Elhadj and Savchenko on the court.
 
After Savchenko needed an extra game to take a 7-5 first set win, Elhadj battled back in the second set winning 6-4. Elhadj seemed well in control of the third set with the 3-0 lead before the injury. After getting back on the court, she completed the fourth game before losing the fifth and held serve to post the 5-1 advantage. Savchenko held serve to climb back to 5-2 and after a changeover, broke Elhadj and won a third straight game to pull within 5-4.
 
Elhadj came back after the final changeover to take a 40-15 lead in the last game and Savchenko responded with a point to cut the lead to 40-30. That's when Elhadj used a crafty serve and return to win the game and the match.
 
The Sharks play for the PacWest Conference Championship against top-seeded Academy of Art. ART U was pushed to the limit by fourth seeded Sonoma State 4-3 in the other semifinal on Friday. The match is set for Saturday 10 a.m. HST (1 p.m. MST) at the Surprise Tennis and Racquet Complex.