STANFORD, Calif. – A repeat title wasn't to be for Karla Popovic and Olivia Hauger, as the California duo dropped the doubles final at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships on Monday at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
 
Seeded first and ranked 11th, the Golden Bears lost to the third-seeded Oregon pair of Shweta Sangwan and Alyssa Tobita, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0(6). The result marked the first loss of the season for the Cal duo (7-1), which had a 25-7 record last year.
 
"I'm definitely happy with the tournament," Popovic said. "We did a lot of things well in this tournament and some things we saw areas for improvement. It's been a good tournament – today was only our first loss of the semester – so we're super excited to get back on the court and see what's next."
 
The 2017 regional served as qualifying for the inaugural Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Indian Wells and Palm Desert, California, in November. Only the doubles champion and singles finalists from the regional earned automatic berths to fall nationals, so Hauger, Popovic and the rest of the Bears will have to wait and see if they earn at-large spots in the tournament later this week.
 
"It was a great final today," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "The level of play was very high for both teams. We've been slowly getting better each round, as Olivia and Karla haven't a lot of matches together this year. Our first-serve percentage wasn't where we needed it to be, but we did the best of what we had. We had opportunities. Credit to Oregon for playing a good match today.
 
"Over the tournament as a whole, I thought the team did really well. We had a lot of firsts and good wins against nationally ranked opponents. We definitely saw significant improvement in singles and doubles. Everyone did what they needed to do. We now have over half the team in consideration for nationals, which is a huge positive. That's something we work for and that's part of our team's goals."
 
Hauger could be one of the Bears earning an at-large spot in singles. In the regional main draw, she won three straight-set matches before falling against Stanford's Melissa Lord, 6-2, 6-1, on Saturday.
 
"I was proud of how I did in getting to the quarterfinals in singles," Hauger said. "In my matches before playing Lord, I did a good job managing to win in two sets, shutting down my opponents before they could come back. Against Lord, every game was close and a couple times I could've been tougher and closed them out. I'm very happy with my performance overall."

Those Bears who qualify will compete at fall nationals from Nov. 1-5, while Cal will also send a contingent to the ASU Thunderbird Invitational from Nov. 3-5 in Tempe, Arizona.
 
ITA Northwest Regional Championships
Oct. 23, 2017, in Stanford, Calif.
Taube Family Tennis Stadium
Main Draw Doubles
 
Final
[3] Shweta Sangwan/Alyssa Tobita (Oregon) def. [1] No. 11 Olivia Hauger/Karla Popovic (Cal), 4-6, 6-4, 1-0(6)