The Eli’s hosted Cornell and Columbia this past weekend and Trinity College on Wednesday at Yale’s Brady Squash Center, showing many strong performances. 

The Bulldogs worked hard to prepare for the three matches in a span of only five days.

“We prepared as we would for most matches, trying to emphasize a consistent approach that we can take into nationals,” men’s team captain Maxwell Orr ’25 wrote to the News. “The challenge of this stretch was having three matches in five days, so we were careful about our training volume.”

The Bulldogs crushed the Cornell Big Red and Columbia Lions. However, while the men’s team triumphed over the Trinity College Bantams, the women’s team brutally fell to the No. 2 ranked team in the nation. Overall, the chockfull week of matches proved to be a significant feat. 

“We’re thrilled with our performance against both Cornell and Columbia, securing dominant 7-2 victories,” Whitney Taylor ’26 wrote to the News. “We have all been working hard both mentally and physically on [the] court, so it was great to see that dedication pay off.”

Yale vs. Cornell, Saturday, Feb. 1

The men’s and women’s teams started the weekend strong, defeating Cornell 9–0 and

7–2, respectively.

The men’s team (6–2, 4–2 Ivy) aced Cornell (5–6, 1–4 Ivy), winning all nine matches. Tad Carney ’26, Arav Bhagwati ’26, Rohan Gondi ’28, Max Forster ’25, Nikhil Ismail ’25 and Merritt Wurts ’25 crushed the Big Red in straight sets, helping move the team up in their Ivy League standing. Lachlan Sutton ’27, Rishi Srivastava ’28 and Orr swept Cornell in their matches 3–1. 

On the women’s team, the Bulldogs (5–4, 3–3 Ivy) improved their standing in the Ivy League while taking down Cornell (5–6, 1–4 Ivy) in a 7–2 victory. Heng Wai Wong ’28, playing in the No. 1 position, was unsuccessful in her rematch against Yee Xin Yang, whom she previously fell to a week ago at the CSA Individual Championships. 

Nevertheless, Spring Ma ’28, Meghna Sreedhar ’25, Mika Bardin ’26, Rashi Goverdhanam ’27 and Layla Johnson ’27 took down Cornell in 3-1 sweeps. Whitney Taylor ’26 made a huge comeback after dropping the first two games to win the next three against Sabine Ball. Meha Shah ’28 fell to Maya Voloshin 3–0. 

Yale vs. Columbia, Sunday, Feb. 2

The Elis kept up the momentum on Sunday, squashing the Lions. 

Carney, Sutton and Gondi aced Arhan Chandra, Yusuf Sheikh and Zach Nam, respectively, 3–0. Bhagwati fell to Shaurya Bawa. Orr, Srivastava, Forster, Ismail and Wurts took down the Lions in 3–1 matches. Srivastava’s latest victory continues his undefeated first season with the Bulldogs. 

With their 8–1 win over Columbia (4–6, 1–4 Ivy), the men’s team picked up their fourth straight win of the season, advancing in the Ivy League. The men’s team has proven to be a strong force this season, only dropping matches against Princeton and Penn. They are now ranked third in the country. 

The women’s team put up a strong front, beating Columbia’s team, which is currently No. 7 in the Ivy League, 7–2. 

Lau, Sreedhar and Bardin didn’t let the Lions win a single game, sweeping their opponents in straight games. Ma and Taylor fought hard against Columbia’s Nourin Khalifa and Andreea Ghiorghisor to narrowly claim 3–2 victories. Shah and Johnson defeated Columbia 3–1, and Wong and Goverdhanam fell 1–3. 

Yale vs. Trinity, Wednesday, Feb. 5

The teams took Monday and Tuesday to prepare for the tough battle against Trinity.

The men’s team triumphed with a 7–2 victory over the Bantams. Sutton, playing in the No. 3 position and Ismail, playing No. 8, swept Mateo Restrepo and Marawan ElBorolossy, respectively, 3–0 in straight games. 

Bhagwati, Orr, Srivastava and Wurts took down Trinity 3–1. Gondi battled Huzaifa Ibrahim to secure a narrow 3–2 victory, but number one Carney fell to Joachim Chuah, and number seven Forster was unsuccessful against Dmytro Shcherbakov. 

Nevertheless, the Bulldogs’ seven decisive victories helped them glide to victory over Trinity. Srivastava’s latest victory continues his undefeated streak with only one match left in the regular season.

On the women’s team, the Elis fought hard but fell to Trinity’s team 2–7. Wong, playing in the number one position, easily defeated Jana Safy in three straight games. Bardin picked up the other victory for the Bulldogs, defeating Lujan Palacios 3–2, whom she previously beat at the CSA Individual Championships to become the Holleran East Champion. Lau, Taylor and Goverdhanam had close matches, pushing them into five games, but were unsuccessful. 

Taylor reflected on the close 2–3 losses, sharing that, while she was disappointed, the team worked hard. 

“The final score was 2-7, but that doesn’t truly reflect how close the matches were. The majority of the matches went to five games, showing the incredible strength of our team against a top-tier opponent,” Taylor wrote to the News. 

As the teams prepare for the final matches of the regular season and the CSA Team Championships, Orr is proud of the team’s successes. 

“It is tough to get a win against any team in the Ivy League, and Trinity has historically been so dominant, so to go 3-0 during that stretch is a great accomplishment,” Orr wrote to the News. “I could tell that the things we have been working on started to click, which showed through the conviction and energy that we played with. There will always be things to improve, but we did exactly what we needed to in order to position ourselves well down the stretch.”

Orr also shared that the team’s final match will be bittersweet. 

“Playing Western University for senior day will be the last home match for our five seniors, so there will definitely be some mixed emotions. The team is feeling good, knowing it will be another test to see whether we are on track going into nationals.” 

The women’s team will host Stanford, and the men’s team will play Western University at the Brady Squash Center for their final matches of the season on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m.