NEW YORK - The No. 9 Columbia men's squash team and No. 4 Cornell went head-to-head in a closely contested match Sunday at the SL Green StreetSquash Center, the home of Columbia squash. The match remained up in the air until the final three matches, but it would be Cornell that would come away with the 5-4 victory.

In the No. 3 position, Columbia's Mohamed AbdelMaksoud played a thriller of a match, capturing a five-set win over Owen Butler. AbdelMaksoud went down 2-1 after three games of action, but rallied to win the final two sets and pick up the victory, 11-6, 4-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-6.

Alex Nalle and Alec Goldberg both found their way's out of early deficits in the No. 9 and 7 matches, respectively. Nalle lost a nail biter in the first game of his match, 12-10, but then strung together three straight 11-4 winning games to capture the No. 9 match. Goldberg also played a tight first set, but was on the wrong side of an 11-9 score. The junior recovered though and won the next three sets, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6, for the win.

Ramit Tandon locked up Columbia's fourth point in the No. 1 position, winning the first two games against Nick Sachive, before he retired.

Outside of the No. 1 match, each court pitted what looked to be equivalent talent against one another. Columbia avoided being swept in any of the matches Sunday with most games being decided by just a few points.

Columbia will take the remainder of December off from competition. The Lions next match will come at home Jan. 12, 2013, when the Brown Bears visit the City of New York. 

Men's Results - Cornell 5, Columbia 4
No. 1 Ramit Tandon (Col) def. Nick Sachive (Corn) - 11-2, 11-5, retire
No. 2 Aditya Jagtap (Corn) def. Tony Zou (Col) - 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-8
No. 3 Mohamed AbdelMaksoud (Col) def. Owen Butler - 11-6, 4-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-6
No. 4 Arjun Gupta (Corn) def. Kyul Rhee (Col) - 11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 11-7
No. 5 Ryan Todd (Corn) def. Daniel Saleem (Col) - 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9
No. 6 Abhijit Malik (Corn) def. Graham Miao (Col) - 11-4, 5-11, 14-12, 11-6
No. 7 Alec Goldberg (Col) def. Matthew Shang (Corn) - 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6
No. 8 Graham Dietz (Corn) def. Andrew Tan (Col) - 11-9, 12-10, 11-5
No. 9 Alex Nalle (Col) def. Geoff Keating (Corn) - 10-12, 11-4, 11-4, 11-4
No. 10 Theo Buchsbaum (Col) def. Carter Clarke (Corn) - 11-4, 11-2, 11-6