SAN DIEGO—In a fifth set that had eight ties, Fresno Pacific took its first lead when it mattered the most to slip by Central Washington in the NCAA West Region Volleyball Semifinals.

The Sunbirds, now 27-1, will face the winner of tonight’s Point Loma and University of Alaska match in Saturday’s Championship (7 pm).

In a back and forth battle that took two hours and 20 minutes to complete, Fresno Pacific advances with a 13-25, 25-16, 27-25, 20-25, 15-13 victory over the No. 7 seeded Wildcats. Central Washington’s season ends at 19-8.

Cambria Waites had a career-high 24 kills and also had 16 digs for the Sunbirds, who are heading to their first NCAA regional final. Madelyn Feramisco also had a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs. Devyn Castaneda had 21 digs and Geneva Elliott added six block assists.

But those numbers only tell part of the story.

The Wildcats stunned the Sunbirds in the first set, erasing a 8-3 FPU lead with runs of 5-0 and 7-0 to win easily, 25-13. The second set was similar with the script flipped, with the Sunbirds winning the final six points for a 25-16 win.

The third set was the opposite of the first two. There were 12 ties and eight lead changes before Malia Edwardson’s ace ended the rubber game. The fourth set was similar with eight ties leading to a 16-16 score before the Wildcats pulled away by scoring nine of the final 13 points.

In the deciding fifth set, CWU rolled out to a 5-2 lead before FPU came back to 6-6, from there, both teams traded points but Fresno Pacific never led. Finally, after Waites put balls to the floor for FPU’s 11, 12^th and 13^th points, a CWU net violation put the Sunbirds ahead for the first time in the set at 14-13. Waites then finished off the long night with a deciding kill to give her team the set, 15-13.

Scottie Ellsworth led the Wildcats with 18 kills and Ella Bines added 17.

MORE TO COME....