ROME, Ga.  The Whitman pairing of Robert Carter and Zach Hewlin never trailed during their doubles play-in match Wednesday at the 2017 Small College Oracle Cup in Rome, Georgia. The Blues seniors -- the ITA/Oracle Division III Northwest Regional doubles champions -- scored a 6-4, 6-3 victory over University of Texas-Tyler's Arthur Fagundes and Pablo Gomez who were representing the Southwest region.

Wednesday's win at the Rome Tennis Center advances Carter and Hewlin into the Oracle Cup's quarterfinal round where on Thursday they will square off against the eight-team bracket's top seeds, Mohamad Alhouni and Patrick Whaling of Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) College.

Carter held serve to start the match followed by holds all around through Hewlin's service to put Whitman up 4-3. A service break by the Blues and a Carter hold earned the opening-set victory.

An early service break by Carter and Hewlin pushed the tandem in front in the second set, with Hewlin's hold stretching the advantage to 3-1. Carter and then Hewlin sandwiched holds around a Texas-Tyler hold to move the Whitman duo within a point of the match victory, which they earned with another service break to earn advancement.

Carter and Hewlin earned ITA All-America recognition at the regional by rolling into the regional championship after dropping just nine games in four matches. The pair, seeded third at the regional, downed the bracket's top seed in three sets to earn all-America status and their trip to Georgia.

Thursday's match against the top-seeded Gusties tandem starts at 12:30 p.m. PT with the winner advancing into the semifinal round. Both the Whitman and GAC duos are guaranteed three more matches, playing through either winner or consolation brackets over the following days.