ITHACA, N.Y. — The No. 9-ranked Cornell men's squash team (5-6, 1-4 Ivy League) will return to the Belkin Squash Courts for the first time in nearly a month on Saturday afternoon when it welcomes No. 8-ranked Columbia (4-6, 1-4 Ivy League) to conclude Ivy League play and begin a three-match homestand.

First matches are scheduled to begin at noon. Match action will be streamed for free on Stretch Internet.

Cornell is seeking to conclude its six-match losing streak on Saturday and register its second Ivy League victory. Columbia has dropped its last four matches, all of which have come against the top four ranked teams in the College Squash Association (CSA) rankings — top-ranked Penn (9-0 on Jan. 17), No. 3-ranked Princeton (8-1 on Jan. 19), No. 4-ranked Trinity (6-3 last Saturday), and No. 3-ranked Yale (8-1 last Sunday).

LAST TIME OUT
Senior Rohan Iyer snapped his five-match losing streak with a four-game victory over Daniel Simon at the No. 5 position as the Cornell men's squash team (5-6) dropped an 8-1 decision to No. 4-ranked Trinity (8-2) at the George A. Kellner Squash Courts on Sunday afternoon.

Iyer posted consecutive 11-8 victories to jump out to a 2-0 lead over Simon, who then trimmed Iyer's lead with an 11-6 triumph in the third game. The Cornellian responded with another 11-8 victory, preventing the Bantams from logging a clean sweep of the Big Red.

Senior Aaron Liang battled with Joachim Chuah at the No. 1 match, falling in five games. Liang responded to dropping the first game, 11-8, with wins in the second and third games, 17-15, 11-9, to go up 2-1. Chuah conceded just eight points over the next two games, 11-6, 11-2, for the match win.

Fellow seniors Arnaav Sareen (No. 2) and Tanay Punjabi (No. 4) and freshmen Youssef Sarhan (No. 3) and Roman Bicknell (No. 7) all lost their matches in four games.

SCOUTING COLUMBIA
Columbia comes into Saturday's match against Cornell with a 4-6 overall record and a 1-4 mark in Ivy League play. Like Cornell, the Lions' lone conference victory came to No. 12-ranked Dartmouth, 6-3, on Jan. 12 at SL Green StreetSquash. The other victories on the year for Columbia include 6-3 wins over Tufts (Nov. 22) and Williams (Dec. 8) and an 8-1 triumph over the University of Rochester (Nov. 24).

Imad Athar has a team-high six wins this year, posting a 6-4 record. Varun Fuloria (5-5) and Zach Nam (5-4) are behind Athar with their five victories.

SERIES HISTORY WITH COLUMBIA
The series between Cornell and Columbia is tied, 9-9, as the Big Red has won two out of the last three meetings.

In the last contest held at the Belkin Squash Courts between the Big Red and Lions, Cornell cruised to an 8-1 victory on Feb. 4, 2023, behind three-game victories posted by Spencer Yager (No. 4), Humza Khan (No. 5), and Morgan Huberman (No. 8).

Last year, Columbia responded with a 7-2 victory despite Cornell's Veer Chotrani (No. 1) and Arnaav Sareen (No. 2) recording victories in the top two positions.