NEW YORK — The Columbia men's and women's squash teams earned their first victories of the season on Friday in their home openers at StreetSquash. The ninth-ranked men took down No. 15 Williams, 8-1, while the eighth-ranked women blanked the No. 14 Ephs, 9-0.
 
On the men's side, the Lions took seven of their eight points in straights. The lineup was led by Harold Castiaux, who dominated Andrew Minnis, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 for his first win of the season. Senior Chaitanya Shah escaped a close first game over Jack Lee in the No. 2 match and went on to earn the sweep, 11-9, 11-6, 11-8. Rutvik Rau, Ryan Chen, Gabriel Yun, Gonzalo de la Mora, Adam Atta and Jacob Bulbulia also earned their first top-nine wins of the year.
 
On the women's side, Columbia dropped just one game all night to walk away with a quick 9-0 win. Farida Mohamed disposed of Haley Jefferson in just 15 minutes in the No. 1 match, 11-0, 11-0, 11-2. Kiro Manoharan, Amal Izhar and Elizabeth Lentz also earned three-game wins in less than 15 minutes. Erica McGillicuddy, Sarah Cao, Megan Meyerson and Lentz all earned their first top-nine victories of the year.
 
The Lions will take a few weeks off from competition for finals and the holidays before returning to begin Ivy League play on January 13 against Princeton. Columbia will host the Tigers that day at StreetSquash beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
 
For the latest on the Columbia squash programs, be sure to follow the teams on Twitter and Instagram (@CULionsSquash), on Facebook (Facebook.com/ColumbiaSquash), or by visiting GoColumbiaLions.com.