NEW YORK — The Columbia men's and women's squash teams dominated Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon. The eighth-ranked women cruised to a 9-0 victory, while the ninth-ranked men took an 8-1 win.
On the men's side, The Lions captured eight of nine matches.
Sameer Saxena,
Harold Castiaux, and
Franklyn Smith notched wins in the first wave to give the Lions a quick 3-0 advantage. Saxena won in straights, while Castiaux and Smith earned wins in four games. Saxena posted the first win of the day for the men with a quick 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 win at the No. 8 spot against Felix Feldman.
Jacob Bulbulia,
Rutvik Rau, and
Chaitanya Shah came in for the second wave as Bulbulia and Rau each picked up wins. Bulbulia captures a thrilling 11-9, 9-11, 11-1, 6-11, 11-9 win over Aryan Khandelwal in the No. 7 match. Shah lost his match in five sets, giving Dartmouth its only point of the afternoon.
Ryan Chen,
Zach Nam, and
Adam Goad wrapped up the day with wins in straights to complete the 8-1 win over No. 10 Dartmouth.
"The men were steady and consistent in their matches," Assistant Coach Nayelly Hernandez-Walker said. "That helped open up the opportunities to get some quick wins and claim a great team win."
The women cruised to a 9-0 win over No. 10 Dartmouth. The Lions swept the first wave of matches as
Farida Mohamed,
Amal Izhar, and
Elizabeth Lentz posted wins. Mohamed and Lentz won in straights to get the day started. In the No. 1 match, Mohamed earned an 11-5, 11-3, 11-2 win over Claire Aube. Lentz took an 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 win in the No. 5 match against Priya Verma.
"On the women's side, the play was pretty solid during the first round," Hernandez-Walker said. "It was good to see that from the very beginning. The girls were able to shake some of the excitement and nerves out and they played consistent and solid."
The dominance continued in the second wave as
Simmi Chan,
Nourin Khalifa, and
Kiro Manoharan won in straights to clinch the win for the Lions.
Erica McGillicuddy,
Sarah Cao, and
Aleeza Khan wrapped up the day for the lions with wins in straights
The Lions turn around to take on No. 1 Harvard Sunday. The match is set to get underway from SL Green Streetsquash at 12 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.