BERKELEY ? Maegan Manasse won a match worthy of the No. 1 player in the nation.

On the second day of the always difficult USC/UCLA, back-to-back set, fifth-ranked California tangled with the fourth-ranked Bruins ? the defending NCAA champions ? on Saturday afternoon at the Hellman Tennis Complex. But this time, just before the sun set, the Golden Bears rallied to defeat their southern California sistren, 4-3, in a nonconference affair, with the top-ranked Cal sophomore providing the clinching victory.

The Bears play their Pac-12 Conference matches against UCLA and USC ? which beat Cal on Friday at Hellman ? in March in Los Angeles.

“This was a really great victory for the team today,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “We knew it was going to be a battle. Our goal was to compete better in the singles today than we did yesterday, and I think we did.

“The only disappointment was not getting the doubles point. We definitely had our chances.”

"We could've done a little better in the doubles with our energy," Cal sophomore Denise Starr added. "But we went out strong in the singles and just maintained that all the way through, and I think that was really key."

On Saturday, Cal lost the doubles point when the Bruins won on court two (Bud Chandler Court) and then court three (Mascarin Court). On three, the pair of junior Lynn Chi and freshman Karla Popovic bolted out to a 5-1 lead over Terri Fleming and Kristin Wiley, only to see the Bruins tie things at 7-7. Cal lost in the subsequent tiebreaker, officially falling 8-7(6).

The Bears tied the match at 1-1 in singles when sophomore Denise Starr ? ranked 59th ? beat No. 101 Kaitlyn Ray in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, on court four (Savides Sullivan Court).

Back on court three, 20th-ranked senior Zsofi Susanyi lost to UCLA's Catherine Harrison, 7-5, 6-3, and the Bruins again led, 2-1.

But the Bears came back yet again, with 34th-ranked junior Klara Fabikova winning on court two and 28th-ranked freshman Karla Popovic prevailing on court five (Hirschler-Davidson Court) to put Cal within one of capturing the overall match at 3-2.

Manasse had been slated to face the fourth-ranked Robin Anderson on court one (Newmark Stadium). A late scratch left Manasse playing yet another top-10 Bruin in the ninth-ranked Chanelle Van Nguyen. Manasse lost the first set, 6-3, and then trailed in the second, including at 4-2 and lastly at 5-4. But the Bear worked hard to force a third set with a 7-5 win. She dominated Van Nguyen in the third set and took the match, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Cal clinched with Manasse's win, which made the score 4-2.?

“I let her control the points a little too much, and I wasn't playing my game quite as much,” Manasse said. “Once I got my head straight, then I just kept the same point, working the point, looking to come in when I could. Keeping that going the whole time was really key.”

The teams played out the last match, with Cal senior Cecilia Estlander losing to Kristin Wiley, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, on court six (Walter A. Haas, Jr. Court) to make the final score 4-3.

The Bears return to action when they play at Stanford on March 1 in a match televised by the Pac-12 Networks.

No. 5 Cal (6-2) vs. No. 4 UCLA (7-2) ? 4-3

Feb. 21, 2015, in Berkeley, Calif.

Hellman Tennis Complex

Doubles

1. No. 8 Maegan Manasse/Denise Starr (Cal) vs. No. 2 Catherine Harrison/Kyle McPhillips (UCLA) ? Abandoned

2. Robin Anderson/Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA) def. No. 16 Klara Fabikova/Zsofi Susanyi (Cal) ? 8-6

3. Terri Fleming/Kristin Wiley (UCLA) def. Lynn Chi/Karla Popovic (Cal) ? 8-7(6)

UCLA captured the doubles point.

Order of Finish: 2, 3*

*Clinched the doubles point

Singles

1. No. 1 Maegan Manasse (Cal) def. No. 9 Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA) ? 3-6, 7-5, 6-1

2. No. 34 Klara Fabikova (Cal) def. No. 31 Kyle McPhillips (UCLA) ? 6-1, 4-6, 6-0

3. Catherine Harrison (UCLA) def. No. 20 Zsofi Susanyi (Cal) ? 7-5, 6-3

4. No. 59 Denise Starr (Cal) def. No. 101 Kaitlyn Ray (UCLA) ? 6-1, 6-3

5. No. 28 Karla Popovic (Cal) def. Terri Fleming (UCLA) ? 6-2, 1-6, 6-3

6. Kristin Wiley (UCLA) def. Cecilia Estlander (Cal) ? 6-3, 2-6, 6-3

Order of Finish: 4, 3, 2, 5, 1^, 6

^Clinched the overall match