No. 8 Virginia Wins 5-4 Against No. 9 Cornell

PHILADELPHIA – The No. 8 Virginia men’s squash team (2-4) closed out its weekend road trip with a 5-4 victory against No. 9 Cornell (1-1) on Sunday (Nov. 21) in a neutral-site match at the Penn Squash Center in Philadelphia, Pa.

Junior Aly Hussein came back from a 2-0 deficit to clinch the victory for the Cavaliers at the top of the ladder.

Junior Omar El Torkey opened the match with a quick 11-4, 11-5, 12-10 against win against Spencer Yager at two. After the Big Red picked up wins at four and eight, sophomore Myles McIntyre evened the score with an 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 win against Nicholas Goth Errington at five. After Cornell edged back into the lead 3-2, junior Cullen Little topped Arnaav Sareen in four games, including an epic 17-15 win in the third, to pull even. Cornell took a 4-3 lead with two matches still on the court. Freshman CJ Baldini evened the score with an 11-7, 11-5, 11-7 win against Shreemann Raghavan at six.

Hussein had been edged 11-8 and 11-7 in his first two games against Veer Chotrani, but turned the momentum around with an 11-3 win in the third game. Hussein held on for an 11-9 win in the fourth before closing out the victory with an 11-3 win in the final game.

FROM HEAD COACH MARK ALLEN”
That was a massive win today from the men and crucial in terms of us being able to achieve our seasons goals. We’ve been getting better with each game played and today’s victory – without our 3rd ranked player in the line up – was a performance full of guts and determination. Omar got our first point on the board with his 4th win in 5 matches, and same goes for Myles who was a rock this weekend, coming away with 3 wins. Cullen played what I think might be his best match yet in a UVA uniform to pull out a crucial victory at #3, and CJ Baldini was in control of his match from start to finish, giving us the fourth point we desperately needed. Drew played some inspired squash too today and gave every ounce of effort he had, but just came up short by a few points. So at 4-all it came down to UVA #1 Aly Hussein, who clawed his way back from a 2-0 deficit to give us the final point and take the match 5-4. This hard fought and confidence boosting win  has come just at the right time and we can now look forward to a run of five home home matches at the McArthur Squash Center starting with Dartmouth on December 3.”

NOTES

• Aly Hussein and Omar El Torkey both improved to 5-1 this season
• This was UVA’s fifth-straight match against an Ivy League opponent
• Virginia is 5-0 all-time against Cornell

ON THE HORIZON

• Virginia takes a break for the Thanksgiving holiday before heading back to Charlottesville for its home opener, with the men’s and women’s teams hosting Dartmouth on Friday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. at the McArthur Squash Center

#8 Virginia 5, #9 Cornell 4

1 | Aly Hussein (M_UVA) def. Veer Chotrani (CORNELL) 8-11, 7-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-3
2 | Omar El Torkey (M_UVA) def. Spencer Yager (CORNELL) 11-4, 11-5, 12-10
3 | Cullen Little (M_UVA) def. Arnaav Sareen (CORNELL) 10-12, 11-3, 17-15, 11-2
4 | Charles Culhane (CORNELL) def. Tyler Mackesy (M_UVA) 11-9, 11-7, 11-3
5 | Myles McIntyre (M_UVA) def. Nicholas Errington (CORNELL) 11-7, 11-8, 11-9
6 | CJ Baldini (M_UVA) def. Shreemann Raghavan (CORNELL) 11-7, 11-5, 11-7
7 | Nicholas Robinson (CORNELL) def. Will Holey (M_UVA) 11-6, 13-11, 11-7
8 | Nikhil Iyer (CORNELL) def. Drew Barr (M_UVA) 11-5, 10-12, 7-11, 11-3, 11-8
9 | Humza Khan (CORNELL) def. Evan Hajek (M_UVA) 11-7, 11-9, 11-5
Exh. Tanay Punjabi (CORNELL) def. Charles Braff (M_UVA) 11-5, 13-11, 12-10