NEW YORK — Sophomore Yohann Surti and freshman Nikhil Arjunan Iyer won their respective matches in the lower part of the order, but the men's squash team was fended off by heavily-favored Columbia, 7-2, on Sunday in the teams' Ivy League debut at SL Green StreetSquash.
 
Cornell (1-3, 0-1 Ivy League), which entered the weekend 16th in the Dunlop College Squash Rankings, saw Surti improve to 3-1 on the year from the No. 9 position and give the upset-minded Big Red a point in the opening rotation. Iyer's first collegiate victory followed at No. 8 and freshman Charles Culhane nearly knotted the match at 3 before falling in five games at No. 2.
 
Armed with a 4-2 lead, third-ranked Columbia (3-0, 1-0) prevailed from there with a trio of three-game victories to close out the match.
 
The Big Red will remain idle for six weeks for the semester and holiday breaks before hitting the road for Ivy League matches Jan. 12-13 at Harvard and Dartmouth, respectively.
 
COLUMBIA 7, CORNELL 2
Dunlop College Squash Rankings: Columbia 3, Cornell 16
Sunday's results; at SL Green StreetSquash, New York
1. Velavan Senthilkumar (Clm) def. Andy Muran, 11-6, 11-6, 11-3
2. James Wyatt (Clm) def. Charles Culhane, 11-7, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-7
3. Callan Hall (Clm) def. Perry Hanson, 11-9, 11-9, 11-3
4. Carter Robitaille (Clm) def. Alex Dworetzky, 11-6, 11-7, 11-3
5. Robin Singh Mann (Clm) def. Illia Presman, 11-4, 6-11, 11-2, 11-7
6. Adham Madi (Clm) def. Nicholas Göth Errington, 11-8, 11-6, 1-11, 11-7
7. Krish Kapur (Clm) def. V. Luke Park II, 11-7, 11-5, 11-7
8. Nikhil Arjunan Iyer (Cor) def. Arman Jindal, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7
9. Yohann Surti (Cor) def. Matthew Rebello, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7