ITHACA, N.Y. — For the second time this young season, the men's squash team outlasted an opponent for a 5-4 victory. Sophomore Graham Dietz locked up the winning point Saturday with a five-game victory at the No. 7 spot, powering the eighth-ranked Big Red to the dramatic win over 11th-ranked Columbia at Belkin International Squash Courts.
 
Columbia (1-1, 0-1 Ivy League) took a 2-1 lead after the first rotation, though it took nearly two hours to complete thanks to a two-hour match at the No. 3 position. By that time, both freshman Gustav Runersjö (No. 6) and senior Rishi Jalan (No. 5) had completed three-game on the middle court to bring the score even at 2.
 
Cornell (3-0, 1-0 Ivy) took control by winning the final two matches of the second rotation. Sophomore Abhijit Malik cruised to a three-game victory at No. 8, then junior Ryan Todd topped Rishi Tandon at the No. 2 position to give the Big Red a commanding 4-2 lead. That set the stage for Dietz to secure the winning point.
 
Cornell started off the season with a 5-4 victory over Drexel. Aditya Jagtap secured the winning point in that match. The Big Red will enter a hiatus for final exams and the holidays before returning to action in January with a three-match road trip to Brown, Yale and Trinity.
 
No. 8 CORNELL 5, No. 11 COLUMBIA 4
Saturday, at Belkin International Squash Courts; Ithaca, N.Y.
1. Ramit Tandon (Clm) def. Aditya Jagtap, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9.
2. Ryan Todd (Cor) def. Rishi Tandon, 11-8, 11-1, 13-11.
3. Mohamed Abdel Maksoud (Clm) def. Bryan Keating, 9-11, 18-20, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10.
4. Joshua Sekhar (Clm) def. Kevin Flannery, 11-7, 11-5, 12-10.
5. Rishi Jalan (Cor) def. Danial Saleem, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9.
6. Gustav Runersjö (Cor) def. Tarun Nambiar, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6.
7. Graham Dietz (Cor) def. Andrew Tan, 11-2, 11-13, 11-3, 9-11, 11-8.
8. Abhijit Malik (Cor) def. Peter Giraudo, 11-5, 11-6, 11-7.
9. Alec Goldberg (Clm) def. Geoff Keating, 14-12, 3-11, 11-6, 11-6.
Ex. Richard Soper (Clm) def. Karan Kankariya, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 1-11, 11-1.