The men’s and women’s squash teams opened up their seasons with their only home tournament at Belkin International Squash Courts over the weekend. Cornell hosted the Stanford women’s team, Western Ontario’s men’s team, and the men and women from Penn and Princeton. Beginning on Friday evening, the Cornell teams demonstrated their prowess in the sport, owning up to their sixth-place national ranking.

Both Cornell’s men’s and women’s teams celebrated victories in their first matches of the season on Friday night. The women defeated seventh-ranked Stanford University soundly with a 6-3 final score. They lost, 7-2, to the women of Penn, ranked fourth, on Saturday. Despite their loss, the women, coached by Julee Devoy, were excited by the outcome.

“We felt encouraged by the way we played against Penn,” said freshman Maggie Remsen. “We know Penn is very competitive, but we played our best, and the team was very supportive.”

Freshman No. 2 player Jaime Laird and sophomore No. 3 player Shivangi Paranjpe put Cornell on the scoreboard, winning the Red’s only two matches against Penn. Laird emerged victorious from an exciting five-game match against Penn’s Nabilla Ariffin.

Meanwhile, the men’s team, coached by Mark Devoy, achieved back-to-back wins, first beating Western Ontario (ranked ninth), 8-1, then continuing with a 9-0 sweep against close rival Penn (seventh) on Saturday. The highlight of the day was freshman Rishi Jalan’s marathon match against Penn’s Porter Drake. It was five games of nail-biting and fist-clenching, but Jalan came out ahead, clinching the match for Cornell. Jalan, who was ranked in the top-4 in India, commented on the exhausting match.

“Actually, I have been playing long matches like this ever since I began playing squash,” said an out-of-breath Jalan. “But college squash is definitely harder. I am getting the hang of it now, but you cannot expect easy matches at this level.”

Jalan’s match was one of two five-game matches of the afternoon. Junior Will Hartigan also won in an epic five-game battle against Penn’s Trevor McGuinness, while co-captains Chris Sachvie (senior) and McKay Claghorn (junior) both helped carry the team by defeating their respective opponents, 3-0.

Mark Devoy was pleased with the outcome of the team’s first two matches.

“We got a little bit of momentum from the win on Friday,” Devoy said after Saturday’s victory over Penn. “We [had] to go into the match against Princeton with a positive attitude and hope for a win.”

The Princeton matches on Sunday proved to be a bit of a tough ending to a largely successful weekend for Cornell. Princeton, whose men’s team is ranked second and whose women’s team is ranked first after winning the national championship last season, knocked off the Red in 6-3 and 5-4 victories over the men and women, respectively.

Jalan lost in a close five-game match, as did fellow freshman Arjun Gupta. But despite its disappointment, the team was pleased to have finished the tournament giving the long-reigning squash powerhouse a run for its money.

“Overall, we had a pretty solid weekend,” Gupta said. “We didn’t capitalize on a few close matches against Princeton, which was frustrating, but we came close to a win. It was a great way to begin the season.”

The women’s match was even closer, as the Red gave last year’s national champions a scare, losing in an exciting 5-4 struggle. Being ranked five places below the Tigers, the Red was still extremely pleased with its final match of the weekend.

“We were excited to have gotten that close,” Remsen explained. “We played really well, and it was a learning experience. We look to the future to beat them when we play them later in the season.”

The rookie described a very supportive team environment.

“Our coach was very understanding of the events that happened this weekend,” Remsen said of Devoy. “She had a great influence on us. She was really encouraging, especially after the Penn match.”

The Red look to continue this weekend’s streak of success in its upcoming tournament at Harvard where the men and women will face Harvard and Tufts on Dec. 5.