STANFORD, Calif. – Karla Popovic swept the singles and doubles titles at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships presented by Oracle, with the California junior pairing with sophomore Olivia Hauger to win in doubles after she won the singles crown on Tuesday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. With the victories, Popovic and Hauger qualify for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, scheduled for Nov. 3-6 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.
 
"It's super exciting," Popovic said of winning both titles. "I wasn't expecting it. I just wanted to play one match at a time today and play my best. I'm very, very happy with both titles."
 
Cal won both regional championships for the first time since 2006, when Nina Henkel claimed the singles title and the pair of Susie Babos and Zsuzsanna Fodor won in doubles.
 
"They did a great job," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "We had a great five days of the tournament here. We've been building to qualify as may players as we can for national indoors. I'm excited to see Olivia, who lost in last year's doubles final, come away with a championship with a new partner. They're off to a really good start as a team.
 
"Karla's performance this whole fall semester has been outstanding. She faced Higuchi in the final at Saint Mary's, and to repeat that on Higuchi's homecourt was a great accomplishment."
 
Popovic, from Zabok, Croatia, completed a dominant run in the regional on Monday, as she lost just one set in singles and one set in doubles over the five-day event. In the singles final, she played Stanford freshman Emma Higuchi, whom Popovic defeated 6-0, 6-4 in the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational. This time, the Golden Bear won 6-2, 6-2.
 
"Saint Mary's was the first time we played, so I didn't quite know her game style yet, but it helped me for this match today," said Popovic, who also won a third singles title on Oct. 2 at the Cal Nike Fall Invitational.
 
The Gaels' tournament marked the previous time Popovic won in singles and teamed with Hauger to win a doubles title. In the doubles final at Stanford, the Bears' opponents – the Cardinal's Caroline Lampl and Kimberly Yee – again had the homecourt advantage, and the Bears prevailed, 6-2, 6-7(5), 1-0(8).
 
"It's extremely exciting," Hauger said. "This was the goal. We had a great tournament at Saint Mary's before, and we looked forward to regionals and hoped to make it to nationals. I'm proud of us. We fought pretty hard."
 
Hauger, from Tulsa, Oklahoma, has now played in two straight doubles finals at the regional. Last year, she teamed up with former Cal star Klara Fabikova to play in their first tournament together at the regional, though the Bears lost in the final.
 
"Both of their games complement my game so well," Hauger said. "Klara is a very aggressive player, and I was steady, and Karla and I complement each other very well as well. We know what each other is going to do on most balls. We communicate really well, which allows us to make adjustments and really figure out what we need to do as a team."
 
"Olivia has worked a lot on her game since last year as has Karla," Augustus added. "They've both improved tremendously in net play as well as in transition shots. That's why we felt confident to put them together as a team and have them be successful."

This will mark the first trip to New York for Popovic, while Hauger last visited the Empire State for the 2015 national indoor championships.

Other Bears could still earn spots at national indoors as at-large entrants, with the field expected to come out on Wednesday. Another contingent of Bears will compete in the ASU Thunderbird Invitational from Nov. 4-6 in Tempe, Arizona.
 
"We're excited that when the selections come out to hopefully have more Bears joining Karla and Olivia," Augustus said, "and then we'll turn our preparations towards next weekend there as well as to ASU."