The pairings of Jessie Irvine/Callie Smith are into the women’s doubles final after securing hard-fought semifinal victories Saturday evening.

Smith/Irvine kicked off semifinal action with an 12-10, 11-9 victory over No. 5 seeds Lea Jansen/Brooke Buckner.

Jansen/Buckner were coming off a quarterfinal triumph over top seeds Jorja Johnson/Tyra Black and jumped out to a 6-0 lead in Game 1, but Irvine/Smith quickly adjusted. They came all the way back to take the first game 12-10, even saving a game point along the way.

The No. 6 seeds seemed poised to close out the contest when they earned match point at 10-3 in Game 2, but their opponents wouldn’t go down without a fight.

In a highly entertaining and tense sequence, Jansen/Buckner brought the score all the way back to 9-10 before Irvine /Smith finally ended the encounter at the eleventh time of asking.

Irvine spoke about the challenge of trying to close out the match as Jansen and Buckner began to come back in the second game.

“It’s a little windy and breezy, so hitting drops and resets with the wooden paddle can be a little tricky at times, so I was definitely feeling that towards the end there,” she mentioned. “In the moment things are tight, and you want it really badly, but I’m happy that we were able to get through it.”

This is the first time that Irvine and Smith are playing together, but they’re into the final without dropping a game through three matches.

“I enjoyed Jessie’s energy today,” Smith said. “Honestly, I’m used to having like a super pumped-up partner, but it was actually really nice because it kept me calm the whole time. I couldn’t even tell you that we had eleven match points. I just knew we needed one more.”

No. 4 seeds Etta Tuionetoa/Lacy Schneemann await in Sunday’s final. They closed out Saturday’s action with an 11-9, 10-12, 11-5 victory over No. 8 seeds Mary Brascia/Maggie Brascia, finding their best stuff in the final stages of Game 3.

Schneemann gave a very real and comical response when asked about how she’s been adjusting to the wooden paddles.

“Honestly, I’m just trying to make balls,” she joked. “It’s pretty tough. I’m sure you can guess by the way I play, but I like to put a lot of spin on the ball. With these paddles, I’m just trying to push the ball around and make my dinks and drops, which is a tough task out here.”

Despite the difficulties presented by the new equipment, Schneemann and Tuionetoa did enough to make it to Championship Sunday for the first time as a partnership.