The Cornell men’s squash team, seeded tenth, secured a narrow 5-4 win over eleventh-seeded Tufts in the first consolation semifinals of the 2026 CSA National Team Championships. The match took place Friday morning at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.
Six out of nine individual matches were extended to four or five games, highlighting close competition between both teams. Sophomore Youssef Sarhan played a key role for Cornell at the No. 2 position by overcoming Nachiket Desai in four games. Sarhan saved match points during an intense opening game that ended 18-16 before dropping the second set and then winning the final two games, finishing with scores of 18-16, 10-12, 11-5, and 11-7.
Freshman Aly Ezzat contributed another important point for Cornell at No. 3 by coming back after losing the second game to defeat Rohan Valia in four games: 11-9, 4-11, 11-9, and 11-7. At No. 4, sophomore Roman Bicknell also rallied after a first-game loss to beat Milo Friedman with scores of 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, and 11-6. First-year Edward Thng lost his initial game but recovered to win three straight against Mustafa Ayaz at No. 6 (7-11, 11-4, 11-9, and 11-9).
Tufts earned wins at positions one, five, seven and eight. At No.1 Santiago Medina was awarded victory when Syan Singh retired while leading in the third game.
With this result, Cornell advances to face ninth-seeded Dartmouth in the Potter Cup First Consolation Finals on Saturday morning. In their previous encounter during this season’s Ivy League opener on January 17 in Hanover, Dartmouth defeated Cornell with a score of 7–2; Singh and Shah were Cornell’s only winners that day.
This upcoming meeting marks the second consecutive year that Cornell and Dartmouth have met at this stage of the national championships. Last year Dartmouth edged out Cornell by a single match (5–4). If Cornell prevails on Saturday it will prevent Dartmouth from securing a third straight win over them—a streak not seen since Dartmouth won seven consecutive matches between February 2015 and February 2020.
