ROME, Ga.  Perhaps a play-in tandem was an afterthought for the top seeds of the 2017 Division III Men's Doubles Oracle Cup.

That play-in pairing, Whitman's Robert Carter and Zach Hewlin, has everyone's attention now as the "Blues brothers" eliminated No. 1 seeds Mohamad Alhouni and Patrick Whaling of Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) College in a thrilling three-set match to advance into the semifinal round Friday at the Rome Tennis Center.

Carter and Hewlin earned the victory with a commanding 10-4 win in the third-set match-tiebreak.

It was no surprise that the match stretched into the 10-point tiebreaker as the opening set had established that tone.

Beginning with Carter's serve, each team held serve through 2-2.

The Gusties pair broke Carter's serve in the fifth game, however, to nab their first lead at 3-2. That advantage was short-lived as the Whitman duo broke right back, and then held on Hewlin's service to leapfrog into the lead, 4-3, and put the game back on serve.
Each pairing maintained their service for the next four games to push the score to 5-5, with Hewlin serving next.

Alhouni and Whaling picked up their second break of the game, though, to inch within a service win of the game one victory.

Once more Whitman responded with a break of its own, squaring the match at 6-6 and sending it into a seven-point set tiebreak, which Carter and Hewlin won by a count of 7-3.

In the second set the Gusties picked up an early break and in contrast to the opening set, outlasted the Blues as service holds were the norm in Alhouni's and Whaling's 6-4 match-tying win.

In the match tiebreaker, each pairing dropped in early points until the match was even at 3-3. From there it was nearly all Whitman, leading to its match-winning six-point victory.

Carter and Hewlin earned their way into the quarterfinal round Thursday after a straight-set 4 and 3 play-in victory Wednesday over Arthur Fagundes and Pablo Gomez of University of Texas at Tyler.

Thursday's triumph sets up Friday's semifinal match against the University of Chicago's Tyler Raclin and Jeremy Yuan, the bracket's No. 4 seed.