PHILADELPHIA — The eighth-ranked Columbia women's squash team pulled out a big Ivy League road victory on Sunday, besting No. 9 Penn, 5-4. The win improved the Lions to 2-3 on the season and 1-1 against Ivy League competition.
 
The Lions dominated the opening wave, going up 3-0 with victories by Simmi Chan (2), Erica McGillicuddy (4) and Kiro Manoharan (7). Penn (4-3, 0-2 Ivy) rallied to take the next two points and had a 10-8 lead in the fifth at No. 9, but Amal Izhar dug deep and pulled out her match, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 7-11, 13-11. That set up Farida Mohamed to clinch it at No. 1 and the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year didn't let her team down, sweeping Malak Taha in 23 minutes, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5.
 
"That was as close as it can get. In fact, a little too close for comfort," Kenneth W. Torrey Director of Squash Chris Sachvie said, "Every Ivy team this year is really competitive and has good players in different parts of the lineup. Every matchup is a new challenge for us and there aren't going to be any easy ones.
 
"We felt pretty comfortable up 3-0. All three wins were fairly in control. Losing the next two and being down 10-8 in the fifth, the tides changed very quickly on us. Amal's match definitely wound up being the decider. It was a really gutsy finish to scrape it out and save two match balls."
 
The victory was a good bounce back from Izhar, who suffered a five-game defeat just two days prior against Princeton. Her match on Sunday was the only one to go the distance.
 
Mohamed and Chan stayed perfect on the season from the top two spots. McGillicuddy got her second win of the year, while Manoharan improved to 4-1.
 
On the men's side, the Lions gave the undefeated Quakers (10-0, 2-0 Ivy) a battle from the start. Adam Goad (2), Franklyn Smith (4) and Jacob Bulbulia (7) all took their opening games in the first wave of matches.
 
"I think we are playing and are able to produce a pretty high level of squash," Sachvie added. "You can take some confidence to be able to hang with the top team in the country, but it's another level of being able to do it for longer and as consistent. Overall, pretty good effort. We didn't make it easy on them in the first round — all of our guys won their first game — but they showed that top-level composure."
 
Penn responded to win the next three games in all three of those matches to take a 3-0 lead in the team score. The Lions were only able to take one game out of the six remaining matches.
 
Columbia is on the road next Saturday and Sunday to visit Yale and Trinity. Saturday's match against the Bulldogs is scheduled for 12 noon Eastern.
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.