Jared Hiltzik’s first-round match ended in three sets just before 10:15 p.m. Wednesday. From there, a quick turnaround ensued for the nation’s No. 1 recruit last year.

The Illini freshman woke up the next morning around 8 for breakfast and a routine hitting session before his much-anticipated 11 a.m. second-round match against Duke’s Henrique Cunha. But like the day before, his match was delayed as other matches were pushed back, or moved indoors, due to rain — two and a half hours. Receiving only about six hours of sleep the night before, he needed the extra time, yet he was unable to find his legs in an easy 6-0, 6-1 win for Cunha.

The rain, along with court placement, has posed a problem for the NCAA committee all week as it tried to satisfy both student-athletes and fans.

While the NCAA committee decided to move up the start time for the Wednesday matches to 8 a.m., it had its hands cuffed when first-round singles matches were pushed past 10 at night. Thirteen matches moved indoors.

With 12 outdoor courts — not including the West courts because those are used as a last resort — at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex, NCAA needed to get in 64 matches, as pushing first-round singles another day would be the worst-case scenario. Each court ideally would have hosted five matches, which are usually anywhere between an hour to three hours. And some courts would have to host six, depending on how early other matches finish.

“If we had not made those provisions (to start matches earlier) and we got rain all day, putting all those matches indoors, we’d have them finishing at 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning,” said Kristin Fasbender, associate director of championships and alliances for the NCAA.

While six indoor courts were at NCAA’s disposal, every effort is made to play — and keep — a match outdoors, she said. That is because once a match moves indoors, it has to finish indoors, per Intercollegiate Tennis Association rules. 

For Hiltzik and other winners in the evening, there was nothing they could do about the early start time the next day. It’s because the singles matches, which again started at 8, needed to finish before doubles play began. This was because many teams will have their top singles player also play in doubles, and considering Thursday was the first round of doubles, a handful of athletes played twice.

Thursday, 14 out of 32 singles matches finished indoors — five were played entirely indoors — but weather cleared up for doubles competition in the afternoon and early evening. Illinois opened up the West Courts to help get the schedule back on play.

When rain isn’t a factor, it’s wind that could impact where matches are contested — NCAA monitored wind speeds during the last two days of team competition early in the week. For matches to be moved indoors, wind gusts need to be predicted at 20 mph at sustained rates. While the speed never reached that level for a long enough time, there’s always a plan in place.

For team play, the NCAA would’ve have split Atkins Tennis Center into two sides for the two ongoing team matches, holding individual matches that were closest to completion near the center. This would have been crucial for the semifinals, as the NCAA strives to hold them at the same time to eliminate the possibility of one team having an extra few hours of rest.

And sometimes, the NCAA tries please the orange-and-blue-clad crowd by putting matches featuring Illini on the show courts — South Court Nos. 1 or 2. This usually poses a bigger challenge for when tournaments are hosted at Georgia or Stanford, the sites of the previous two tournaments, because the two teams usually feature a stronger level of play.

Illini women’s tennis duo Rachael White and Melissa Kopinski waited over an hour from their noon start time for the singles match to finish on Court 1, which has additional temporary seating, before competing there, while four courts were empty at 12:45.

“I definitely think we were ready to play and wanted to get out there,” White said after the doubles team’s 6-4, 7-6(5) victory Thursday. “But waiting for Court 1 is a huge advantage for us of having all the fans there and have extra seating, so it’s definitely worth it.”

But it was a little different waiting indoors, as they did in their quarterfinal match the day after. Inside Atkins Tennis Center, there’s only one row of seating on the second floor. So that means additional fans, media and tournament officials are crowded in the median separating the six courts, creating a “claustrophobic” environment, said Michelle Dasso, Illini women’s tennis head coach.

For team play, it’s much simpler as court placement is not an issue. Before the NCAA began creating the 64-team bracket for both the men’s and women’s tournaments, it asked Illinois officials a simple question: What time would you want to play if your teams advanced to the Round of 16?

Illinois chose the last time slot for May 16-17: 7 p.m. But the women were never picked for the tournament and the men fell a round short of returning to play in front of the home crowd.

Darshan can be reached at [email protected] and @drshnpatel.