STANFORD, Calif. ??Facing their teammates with a berth to another big tournament on the line, California's third-seeded Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi upset the top-seeded Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr on Tuesday at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships. Playing at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium, the veterans defeated the younger Golden Bears ? who are ranked 11th in the nation ? 6-1, 6-4.

The Bears clinched a spot in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships slated to run Nov. 6-9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York. Head coach Amanda Augustus' team could still earn at-large berths in singles and doubles to the indoor intercollegiate. The ITA will announce the singles and doubles fields closer to the start of the tournament.

“It feels really great,” Susanyi said. “It was strange to play against teammates. Both Klara and I are really, really, happy. It's a little bit like we can't believe that we won the whole tournament because it's a really big deal.”

“It's always tough to play teammates, but we enjoyed it knowing one of the Cal teams was going to win the title and go to New York,” Fabikova said. “It was an exciting match for us. We know what their weaknesses and strengths are and they know what our strengths and weaknesses are. We knew it would be a good match.”

The result was a technically an upset by virtue of the seeding and ranking for the sophomore duo of Starr and Manasse, who had a 12-1 record and final ranking of 33rd last season. Susanyi, a senior, and Fabikova, a junior, only played together a few times last season, when they posted a 6-2 record. But the Bears were 14-5 in 2012-13, when they finished the season ranked 42nd.

“Having played with each other before, that was a great thing for us, even though we played just a few matches last year and most of the time my sophomore year,” Susanyi said. “We clicked so well today, and this past experience just helped.

“My opinion on rankings is that they're just numbers. How you go out there and show on the court every single day is what matters."

“We're really pleased with the progress of both these doubles teams,” Augustus added. “Zsofi and Klara have good chemistry. We're looking forward to see what more they can do this year. Maegan and Denise have had really great results ? last year when they played together and now this fall. They still a shot at an at-large selection to New York, and we have very strong candidates for singles at-larges as well as wild cards.

“We'll just keep building on what each doubles team needs to build on to continue improving. It's really nice when you can leave teams together and build them that way.”

Cal last won the regional doubles crown in 2010, when the pair of Jana Juricova and Mari Andersson topped the Stanford squad of Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs. The Bears led 5-1, when Gibbs retired with an injury to hand the Bears the championship.

The current Bears return to action in the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational scheduled for Oct. 24-26 in Moraga, California.