NEW YORK — The Columbia men's and women's squash teams each suffered 6-3 losses in their Ivy League openers against Princeton on Friday. The eighth-ranked women were bested by the No. 4 Tigers, while the ninth-ranked men were defeated by No. 3 Princeton.
 
"I think the big positive is that we've gotten better every match," Kenneth W. Torrey Director of Squash Chris Sachvie said afterward. "Today was one of the better performances we put out even though it didn't go our way. I think the message is that we are going to get one if we keep trending in this direction. There are no easy ones … but we're a couple of bounces away on the women's side, and one or two other things go our way on the men's side and it's a different result."
 
Columbia will head to Penn for their second Ivy League match on Sunday. The men battle the No. 2 Quakers, while the women will take on the ninth-ranked Quakers.
 
WOMEN'S RECAP:
No. 4 Princeton 6, No. 8 Columbia 3
 
The Columbia women (1-3, 0-1 Ivy) started out strong with a win in the No. 2 match by Simmi Chan. The sophomore from Hong Kong remained undefeated this season, sweeping Princeton's Liyen Teohm 11-1, 11-7, 12-10 to award the Lions the first point of the day.
 
Princeton (2-0, 1-0 Ivy) answered with victories in the No. 4 and No. 7 matches to claim the lead, but the Lions came right back courtesy of Nourin Khalifa. The first-year improved her record to 3-1 with a hard-fought four-game win over India Stephenson, 10-12, 11-9, 11-2, 11-7, tying the team score at 2-2.
 
Moments later, Princeton wrapped up back-to-back five-game results that went a long way in deciding the final outcome. Andrea Toth came back from a game down entering the fourth to defeat Sarah Cao, 11-9, in the fifth. Amal Izhar also surrendered a 2-1 game lead, dropping the fourth and fifth to Abigail Schuster, 12-10, in the fifth.
 
The Tigers clinched the victory with a three-game win at No. 5. Despite the team score being decided, the Lions were able to win a third match as Farida Mohamed took care of Molly Chadwick, 11-3, 9-11, 11-3, 11-5. Mohamed, the 2021-22 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, improved to 3-0 on the year.
 
"Two-all in the match and we had two players two-all in games at the number three and the number nine," Sachvie said. "Both Sarah and Amal were awesome but at the end of the day, it's one or two shots that decide the outcome. We went from two-all to 4-2 down. Ultimately, a couple of balls here and there decided the match."
 
Order of Finish (Women):
2, 7, 4, 6, 9, 3, 5, 8, 1
 
MEN'S RECAP
No. 3 Princeton 6, No. 9 Columbia 3
 
Princeton (2-0, 1-0 Ivy) swept each of the opening three matches and pulled out a five-game decision at No. 9 to take a commanding 4-0 lead. Ryan Chen had won his first two games, 12-10 and 11-3, and had game ball in the third leading 10-7, but Avi Agarwal rallied to win the third, 12-10, before coming all the way back.
 
Columbia (1-3, 0-1 Ivy) put up its first point when Rutvik Rau polished off a three-game sweep in the No. 6 match. Rau improved to 2-1 on the season, defeating Hassan Khalil 11-8, 12-10, 11-6, to begin the men's charge.
 
Chaitanya Shah completed the second wave of matches with a four-game victory moments later. The senior improved to 3-1 this season, splitting the first two games with Ahmed Wael before closing out the last two, 11-8, 11-9.
 
That left Sameer Saxena (8), Zach Nam (5) and Harold Castiaux (1) with an opportunity to take home the win. Saxena and Nam each won their opening games but the Tigers only needed one point and got it from the top. Daelum Mawji swept Harold Castiaux, 11-6, 11-2, 11-7, to clinch the match.
 
"It can be hard mentally to know that the team match is over and still perform up to your potential," Sachvie added. "That's something we've been working on and our goal is to get better every week. These guys need to push individually and we had some really good fight there. Tough result, but not for a lack of effort."
 
Nam went on to complete a thrilling five-game win over Alastair Cho, 11-5, 12-10, 4-11, 8-11, 11-7.
 
Order of Finish (Men):
4, 7, 2, 9, 6, 3, 1, 8, 4
 
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.