SAN DIEGO, Calif., -- Playing in the last match of the day is never fun. After all, you have to sit around, wait and wonder about what is going to happen in your next match. Yet for the No. 6-seeded women's team and No. 15-seeded men's team, playing late in the day during the second day of main draw play was perfectly fine.

"It's awesome to do it in my hometown and have all my friends and family come out," said Mike Placek of his thrilling 21-17, 11-21 and 15-13 win over No. 7 seed Ryan Marciano and Ed Ratledge. "It's kind of a surreal feeling."

Surreal or not, Placek and his partner Russ Marchewka are finding themselves playing tomorrow morning at 11:30 in their first semifinal match.

"This is so surreal," said Marchewka. "I've always hoped I could get to the semifinals, but with the way the season has gone I wasn't sure if we would have a chance to get there. We have a nice little run going here."

Their run started earlier in the day when they beat Friday's dream team of Joaquin and Jonathan Acosta who claimed the biggest upset of the day when they defeated the No. 2 seed of John Hyden and Brad Keenan.

They are phenomenal players For them to have beaten Hyden and Keenan the way they did, they've been due all year. I like them a lot and they are good players, but everything went right -- from trickle aces to blocks going down -- for us this morning. Maybe the planets are aligning for us this weekend."

Upset or not, this win for Marchewka and Placek is the stuff that hard work is made of.

"We've been on the verge of breaking through all year," said Marchewka. "We've been playing tough teams close and I think what is going well today is that we had the energy and momentum and kept it going."

The win for Marchewka and Placek is one of the perks of not having the top two seeded teams participating this weekend.

"We felt good about it because we would have been matched up against Phil and Todd in the second round if we had made it past our first round match. You don't draw it in the plans to beat those guys, so we are enjoying it."

Other teams on the men's side to advance include the No. 1 seeds of Nick Lucena and Sean Scott, No. 5 seeds Pedro Brazao and Jose Loiola and No. 6 seed of Casey Jennings and Matt Fuerbringer.

The women's bracket also experienced a late-day upset when the No. 6 seed of Angie Akers and Holly McPeak out-lasted Diane DeNecochea and Barbara Fontana in a three-game and 69 minute beach-burning match of 14-21, 21-17 and 24-22.

"That was insane to play and so much fun," said Akers. "Winning that is so huge. It's high-pressure and I'm kind of speechless right now. I'm ecstatic."

Akers and McPeak are moving on to their second consecutive semifinal after seeing the basics of the game go their way.

"I think we kept getting good opportunities," said McPeak. "They were making big plays, but I think we are the best conditioned team out here and felt like that was going to come through in the end. We feel like we can beat anyone out here with our execution. I think we are gaining confidence in our game and getting more confident in difficult situations and Angie is making some big plays which is the key for us."

Other teams advancing to the women's semifinals starting at 1pm tomorrow include the No. 1 seed of Jen Boss and April Ross, No. 2 seed of Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan and No. 5 seed of Tyra Turner and Rachel Wacholder.