NEW YORK – Junior Veer Chotrani closed out his match at the No. 1 position in four games to punctuate the Cornell men's squash team's 5-4 upset victory of Columbia in the teams' Ivy League opener on Sunday afternoon at S.L. Green StreetSquash.
 
By ending a six-match losing streak to Columbia (4-1, 0-1) that dated back to 2015, Cornell (2-1, 1-0) has thrown its hat into a quagmire of College Squash Association national rankings ranging from the No. 5 to No. 9 positions. The Big Red started the weekend in that No. 9 spot – just on the outskirts of the top eight that will make the top flight of the CSA's national championships in February – but could find its way up a rung or two after the dramatic win over the Lions.
 
The Big Red started off Sunday's match with a sweep of the opening rotation to take a commanding 3-0 lead. Rohan Iyer (No. 9) and Arnaav Sareen (No. 3) locked up their respective matches in the minimum three games, and Charles Culhane (No. 4) never trailed in wrapping up his match in four. The Lions then answered in kind by sweeping the second wave of matches to knot the score at 3 entering the final three matches.
 
Nick Robinson pushed Cornell ahead with his four-game win at No. 7 (like Culhane, improving to 3-0 on the season), then Columbia pulled back even with a sweep at No. 5. That set the stage for Chotrani's clincher at No. 1, which he secured with a score of 11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7.
 
The Big Red will remain idle for six weeks through intersession before returning to play with its first home matches of the season Jan. 15-16 against Yale and Trinity, respectively.

Cornell 5, Columbia 4

National rankings: Columbia, 6, Cornell 9
at S.L. Green StreetSquash; New York
1. Veer Chotrani (Cor) def. Callan Hall, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7
2. James Wyatt (Clm) def. Spencer Yager, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 11-6
3. Arnaav Sareen (Cor) def. Harold Castiaux, 11-7, 11-6, 11-2
4. Charles Culhane (Cor) def. Chaitanya Shah, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 11-5
5. Adam Goad (Clm) def. Tanay Punjabi, 11-7, 11-4, 11-3
6. Rutvik Rau (Clm) def. Nicholas Göth Errington, 8-11, 11-8, 14-12, 8-11, 13-11
7. Nick Robinson (Cor) def. Ryan Chen, 8-11, 11-9, 11-2, 11-8
8. Justin Ghaeli (Clm) def. Humza Khan, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7
9. Rohan Iyer (Cor) def. Jacob Bulbulia, 12-10, 11-5, 11-8
Ex. Zach Nam (Clm) def. Morgan Huberman, 11-7, 11-4, 11-6
Order of finish: 3,2,1 / 4,6,5 / 9,8,7