SURPRISE, Ariz.-- The Azusa Pacific women's tennis team fell 4-3 the Hawai'i Pacific Sharks Friday afternoon in a thrilling semifinal match.

Azusa Pacific trailed 2-1 in doubles play as No. 39 Kara Hinton and Jacky Wagner lost to No. 17 Elodie Busson and Elisa Elhadj at the top spot 6-3. The APU tandem of Anna Savchenko and April Wong registered the Cougars lone doubles win over HPU's Mihoki Miyahara and Sarah 6-4 at the No. 2 position. Doubles concluded with HPU's Debora Echeverria and Heloise Le Normad downing Petra Ivankovic and Audrey Stewart at court three with a 7-5 win to claim the doubles point.

Heading into singles play down 0-1 on the scoreboard, April Wong at the No. 5 position won both sets 6-2 to even out the score for the Cougars. At court six, Mikayla Rinker lost both sets 6-3 to Heloise Le Normand before teammate Jacky Wagner recovered with a 6-3, 6-1 victory at the No. 4 slot to settle the score 2-2. On court three, Kara Hinton fell in both sets 6-3 to Mihoki Miyahara, but No. 28 Petra Ivankovic picked the momentum right back up at the top spot and snagged a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 win over No. 22 Elodie Busson. With all eyes on court two, Elisa Elhadj sealed the deal with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Anna Savchenko to clinch the match and advance the Sharks to the Championship match.   

The Cougars will head to the consolation match for third place in the Pacific West Tournament against Sonoma State at 1:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon.