NEW YORK, NY – A tough Columbia squad celebrating its senior day posted an 8-1 victory over the visiting University of Rochester squash team on Saturday afternoon at SL Green Streetsquash.
 
The loss drops Rochester's record back to .500 on the season, sitting at 6-6, while the host Lions improve to 8-6 overall. Entering Saturday's match, Columbia was ranked #6 in the latest College Squash Association poll, with UR checking in at #10.
 
There is just one match remaining in the regular season for Rochester, as the Yellowjackets travel to #4 ranked Yale for the finale. Next weekend the teams descend on Philadelphia to compete at the CSA Team Championships.
 
On Saturday, UR's lone winner was junior co-captain Abdelrahman Lasheen at #3. Lasheen beat Columbia's James Wyatt in four games, winning 14-12, 8-11, 11-6 and 11-4 to improve to 7-3 on the season, tying for the team lead in victories with teammate Yash Fadte.
 
Fadte proved to be the most successful Yellowjacket other than Lasheen on Saturday, taking his opponent, Callan Hall to extra points in a five-game thriller. Hall would edge the UR first-year 11-5, 8-11, 12-10, 8-11 and 14-12 at the #2 position to close out the match.
 
The rest of the Columbia victories came by 3-0 scores, but several Yellowjackets were able to hang tough in sets with their Lions opponents.
 
At #1, Cesar Segundo improved every game, but dropped his match to Velavan Senthilkumar 11-5, 11-9 and 12-10. In the fourth spot, Luis Moncada fought to a 12-10 score in the second set in his loss.
 
Jake Koeppel at #6 nearly forced a fourth game after fending off several match points in his third set, eventually falling 13-11. At positions seven and eight, both Emilio Carrillo and Alejandro Porras battled to tough 14-12 losses in their opening set.