EAGLE, Idaho  Whitman's 14th-ranked men's tennis team challenged themselves, and their hosts Saturday night, as the NCAA Division III Blues battled with D-I Boise State in an inter-division battle.

The match, played in front of nearly 300 fans, hinged on the final two singles bouts on the courts of the Eagle Tennis Club, but the Broncos scraped up an extra service break in each to finally douse the upset spirit of Whitman, 5-2.

The victory gives Boise State head coach Greg Patton his 800th career win, with the added twist that Blues head coach Jeff Northam was Patton's assistant more than 20 years ago and earned his master's degree from BSU.

Playing the D-I format -- three doubles matches are contested for just one team point -- the Broncos were able to earn the initial edge with a win at No. 2 doubles.

Intercollegiate Tennis Association D-III doubles All-Americans Zach Hewlin and Robert Carter erased that advantage, however, as the Whitman duo rolled to a 6-2 win over Boise's top pair, Mattia Bedolo and Ryland McDermott.

That left the deciding match for the doubles point with the No. 3s.

Rajul Chikkalingaiah and Chase Friedman teamed up for Whitman and gave BSU's Max Blancaneaux and Tim Heslin all they could handle. But the Broncos tandem earned one service break to outlast Chikkalingaiah and Friedman, 7-5.

Straight set wins at Nos. 5 and 3 singles added two more points to the Broncos' coffers, 3-0, but Hewlin, then Gary Ho changed the complexion of the match.

At No. 1 singles, Hewlin downed Bedolo in straight sets, 6-3 and 7-5, to make the score 3-1. Ho then won a 5 and 3 straight-set win at 4-singles to lift the Blues to within a point, at 3-2.

Carter, at No. 6, and Ben Kirsh, at No. 2, were still on the courts, playing for the upset.

Both dropped their respective opening sets, but evened their matches up with second-set victories.

Carter and BSU's Harvey Shackleton slugged things out, pushing each other to a 5-5 tie in the deciding third set. With a hold and a break, though, Shackleton was able to finish off the set for a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory, clinching the team match for the Broncos.

Still fighting in the 2-singles match were Kirsh and Wyatt DeMulling.

In the third set the pair played to a 4-4 tie, but DeMulling also earned a hold and a break to escape with a three set, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory.

Whitman drops to 1-2 overall on the season, but its two losses have come against the Broncos and D-I Gonzaga.

The Blues step back into D-III competition with their next matches, hosting the 2018 Whitman Invite on February 9-11. Teams scheduled to attend include No. 11 University of Redlands (Calif.) University, No. 13 Trinity (Texas) University and Lewis & Clark College.