SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- In a thrilling five-set battle, No. 6 seed Azusa Pacific eliminated No. 2 seed Western Washington, 25-19, 25-21, 21-25, 26-28 and 15-13 in the NCAA West Regional semifinals on Friday evening at Cal State San Bernardino, sending the Cougars to their first regional championship match.

After becoming the first PacWest team in half a decade to reach the championship of the regional, Azusa Pacific (28-4) will go on to face No. 1 seed and host Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday night at 6 p.m. The No. 1 team in the nation goes into that match with a 29-0 record this season. Western Washington finished the 2019 season with a 27-3 record as GNAC Champions

Azusa Pacific won its first five sets of the 2019 NCAA West Regional, taking a two-set lead over the Vikings after having swept Cal State LA on Thursday. Katarina Radisic had one of her team-high 17 kills to give the Cougars set point in the second set as they went on to take the 2-0 lead.

In the third set, Radisic had three kills in a span of six points to take a 21-20 lead, but the Vikings rattled off five points in a row to win the third set and keep their playoff run alive. Tupu Lologo got an ace on set point to send the match into a fourth set.

Aside from a 6-3 lead for the Vikings, neither team led by more than two points during the fourth set. Sara Wagenveld finished the match with 12 kills on 23 attacks, and one of those kills gave the Cougars their first match points with a 24-22 lead. Western Washington saved both match points with a block and a kill by Gabby Gunterman to make the score 24-24. Western Washington continued to set Gunterman who got blocked by Amy Hinnant and Julianne Miller to give the Cougars a third match point, but Gunterman saved that match point as well with her fourth kill of the set. Lologo once again converted on set point with an ace to send the match into a fifth set.

Just like in the first round of the 2018 regional against Cal Poly Pomona, Azusa Pacific had missed an opportunity to convert match points in the fourth set, but this time the Cougars got the job done in the deciding fifth set. The Cougars rushed out to a 7-3 lead on a kill by Annaka Jorgenson and a block by Wagenveld and Hinnant later in the set made it a 10-5 lead. Western Washington came all the way back to tie the set at 13-13, but a service error gave the Cougars a fourth match point. The Vikings went back to Gunterman to try to keep the match alive, but this time Wagenveld and Aliyah Morrison got the block to win the match, 15-13 in the fifth set.

Radisic, Wagenveld, Morrison and Jorgenson all finished with double-digit blocks and Miller had a team-high .467 hitting percentage on 15 attacks. The Cougars finished the match with 14 blocks with Miller and Morrison each playing a part in seven of them. Bailey Henington tallied 27 digs for the Cougars, while Mina Andjelkovic registered 33 assists and Maggie Nielsen added 24 assists with one ace.