ITHACA, N.Y - The No. 11 Columbia men's squash team hit the road for the first time this season on Saturday, Dec. 7 for its Ivy League match against No. 8 Cornell. For the second straight season, these two teams competed in a close contest to begin conference play. The Big Red edged the Lions 5-4 to hand Columbia its first loss this season.

Ramit Tandon put together an impressive performance in a win at the No. 1 position, taking the game in straight sets, 11-5, 11-9, 11-9.  Joshua Sekhar also had a solid day at the No. 4 position adding another sweep for the Lions, 11-7, 11-5, 12-10.

In the No. 3 position, Columbia saw an amazing comeback victory by Mohamed AbdelMaksoud. After dropping the first two sets, AbdelMaksoud rallied to win three straight sets to defeat Cornell’s Bryan Kearing, 9-11, 18-20, 11-7, 11-9, 12-10.

Alec Goldberg showed his strength at the No. 9 position for Columbia. The senior fended off Cornell’s Geoffer Keating to take the game in fours sets on Saturday, 14-12, 3-11, 11-6, 11-6.

The 1-1 Lions will return to action after a December break on Saturday, Jan. 11 when they travel to Yale for a 12 p.m. contest.