Men's Squash Tops Cornell, Columbia

Riding a three-match win streak, the No. 3 Harvard men’s squash team took on two conference opponents this weekend in No. 11 Columbia and No. 5 Cornell at the Murr Center.

The Crimson (13-1, 4-1 Ivy) handily defeated the Lions, 8-1, on Saturday afternoon. Harvard did not suffer a letdown the next day, going on to dispatch the Big Red on Sunday, 6-3.

The Crimson’s last conference game came against Princeton on Jan. 13, where Harvard fell in a tight, 5-4 decision.

“Today everyone played well, because we could have easily lost had we played the same way as we did [in our earlier loss] against Princeton,” sophomore Tyler Olson said. “I think it shows character that we came back and everyone played well and put it together.”

HARVARD 6, CORNELL 3

In its second conference showdown in as many days, Harvard edged out a 6-3 victory over Cornell (12-3, 3-2).

The Big Red, which had won seven of its last eight matches with the sole loss coming to No. 2 Trinity, made things tough on the Crimson. Only two matches were decided in straight sets, and they both went down as Harvard victories.

“Cornell today, especially the men, were bloody good,” said Crimson coach Mike Way, who also coaches the women’s side. “And for us to win, 6-3, it might have been 7-2 but could easily have been 5-4. Either way, some of the matches were that close.”

Junior defending national champion Ali Farag was responsible for one of those three-set victories, once again dispatching his opponent in convincing fashion. Farag has never lost in his Harvard career.

The other sweep came at the No. 8 position. Senior Jason Michas secured a convincing win, but each set was decided by three points or fewer.

None of the other Crimson wins came easily, as three of the victories came in four sets and one went the full five-set distance.

“I thought that a couple of our guys might reflect and wish they had done things a little bit differently, but overall we should be well pleased with how they played,” Way said. “They played terrific squash.”

Junior Tommy Mullaney demonstrated his resilience at the No. 6 position. After dropping the first two games, Mullaney came back to win the final three sets, each by just two points.

Fellow juniors Brandon McLaughlin and Gary Power, along with freshman Matt Roberts, all achieved comeback victories against the Big Red. Each player dropped the first set but stormed back to win the next three games.

McLaughlin especially turned the tide, as the junior stormed back to take the final two sets by scores of 11-2 and 11-4.

HARVARD 8, COLUMBIA 1

Harvard’s first match of the weekend came against Columbia (6-5, 1-2). The Crimson dropped only one match and four total sets en route to an 8-1 victory over the Lions.

Seven of the nine Harvard players to take the court won their matches without surrendering a single game.

“The match against Columbia wasn’t that hard of a match,” Olson said. “We were expecting to win, and only number one was going to be a really tough match. Ali played really well, beat him, and the rest of the matches were kind of a wash.”

Farag uncharacteristically dropped the first set playing at the No. 1 position against Ramit Tandon, whom Farag defeated last year to capture the CSA Individual National Championship.

But Farag stormed right back, taking the next three sets to secure the victory over his rival.

McLaughlin put forth a dominant performance at No. 2, winning in straight sets and taking the final two by eight-point margins.

Junior Nigel Koh suffered the sole Crimson loss on the day, falling by a score of 3-1 to Mohamed Abdel Maksoud of the Lions.

Each of the next six Harvard players dispatched their opponents in straight sets. The Crimson remained cool under pressure, as nearly half of the set wins came by three points or fewer.

Two of those closer three-game wins came at the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. In the final spot, Power defeated his opponent in straight sets, although the largest margin of victory was only four points.

Mullaney also finished his match in three games, taking down Danial Saleem of the Lions by a score of 12-10, 11-8, 11-8.

—Staff writer David Steinbach can be reached at dsteinbach@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @bigbach.