Well, that didn't take long for the University of Miami.
Getting to actually play did, though.
The UM women's tennis team, which was supposed to open the NCAA Coral Gables Regional at 11 Friday morning, quickly dispatched Quinnipiac 4-0 in less than one hour late Friday afternoon after enduring a nearly six-hour rain delay.
Also patiently waiting out the delay was FIU, which, after battling nearly four hours with Notre Dame late Friday, lost to the Irish 4-1.
The No. 12 Hurricanes and the No. 22 Irish meet Saturday at 11 a.m. for the regional championship.
The Bobcats (9-11) were no match for the Hurricanes (16-5) as UM advanced for the seventh consecutive year to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
''We didn't expect it to be like this, but we expected it to be easy,'' said sophomore Laura Vallverdu, UM's No. 1 player. ``Anyone you play in the NCAA tournament, you expect them to bring it, but we're UM.
``We're a very close team, and we have a lot of fire.''
Vallverdu and doubles partner Romy Farah and UM's other tandem of Bianca Eichkorn and Caren Seenauth recorded easy victories to get the Hurricanes the first point of the match.
Vallverdu and Farah defeated Mary Wilson and Adrienne Markison 8-1. The one game Vallverdu and Farah lost would be the only game UM would lose Friday. Eichkorn and Seenauth shut out Jackie Herb and Amanda Petruzzi 8-0.
''They have been tested every match,'' UM coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said of her team. ``The ACC forces you to raise your level of play. They have the ability to raise their level.''
Not like UM needed to on Friday.
After Eichkorn rolled past Petruzzi 6-0, 6-0, the only suspense left was which remaining UM player would finish her match first to clinch the fourth point necessary and end the overall match.
Hurricanes No. 6 Claudia Wasilewski accomplished the feat.
Wasilewski trounced Nikki Adams 6-0, 6-0 and did not end up with a DNF (did not finish) next to her name on the scoresheet.
'I kept noticing our other players' scores were going up and up,'' Wasilewski said. ``I was lucky to finish my match, because I get frustrated when I don't finish.''
Despite losing the doubles point, FIU started strong in singles play against Notre Dame (22-8).
The No. 45 Golden Panthers (13-10) won the first set in four of the six singles matches, but the Irish rallied.
''It hurts when you don't win,'' said FIU first-year coach Carlos Casely. ``We stayed out there a long time with a team that was a top-10 team at the beginning of the year.
``They did better in doubles, and we got down 1-0. It's an uphill struggle when you lose the doubles point.''
Notre Dame's No. 4 Colleen Rielley and No. 3 Cosmina Ciobanu, the only two players not to lose their first set, each closed out her match in two sets against Priscilla Castillo and Marijana Cutuk, respectively.
The Irish were ahead 3-0 before the Golden Panthers cracked the victory column.
Freshman Maria Spenceley, FIU's No. 6, defeated Katie Potts 6-2, 7-6 for the lone FIU victory.
Notre Dame eventually ended FIU's season when No. 1 Kelcy Tefft came back after losing the first set to FIU's No. 1 Egle Petrauskaite.
Down 4-6, Tefft won the next two sets 6-1, 6-2.
''Her game just went up,'' said Petrauskaite, who along with Castillo led FIU with 19 wins this season. ``And mine went down. I played tough those last two sets. Nothing changed.
``There were a lot of deuces. She would just get one extra ball back.''
