The 17th-ranked Middlebury men's squash team opened its campaign with two matches. The Panthers battled but fell to #7 Cornell 6-3 on Saturday from the Bostwick Family Squash Center before dropping a 9-0 road decision at #10 Dartmouth.

HIGHLIGHTS VS. CORNELL

• The Big Red grabbed a quick 2-0 advantage with three-game sweeps in the second and ninth spots.
• Aditya Kothari fell behind early in his battle with Daniel King at #5. The Panther battled, claiming back-to-back 12-10 decisions before completing the comeback with an 11-2 effort in the fifth game.
• Gabe Feinstein grabbed the opener of his contest at the top of the ladder against Youssef Sarhan, but the Cornell player rallied to secure the contest in four (9-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-6) and push the Big Red to a 3-1 lead.
• Middlebury knotted the match with a pair of triumphs. Nico Brown earned his first collegiate squash victory in a four-game battle against Roman Bicknell, while Kian Kardestuncer swept his opponent at #7, leveling the score at 3-3.
• The Big Red took the momentum back with three-straight triumphs in the third, fourth and eighth spots to secure the 6-3 victory. The battles in the third and eighth positions both went the distance.

HIGHLIGHTS VS. DARTMOUTH

• Sam Boulanger and Rana Takkar put the Big Green ahead early with three and four-game victories at the #2 and #9 slots, respectively.
• Kothari and Callan Venkatesan were next in the longest match of the day. The Panther grabbed two of the first three games before Venkatesan grabbed the fourth by an 11-7 margin to set up a decisive fifth. Venkatesan secured an 11-3 triumph to earn the point in the marathon match.
• Dartmouth clinched the contest with a sweep by Felix Feldman at #6 and a four-game victory from Rohan Ray in the eighth slot.
• The Big Green tallied 3-0 results in three of the final four matches for the final 9-0 result. 

NOTES

• Kothari surpassed the 15-win mark for his career against the Big Red.
• The Panthers met the Big Green and Big Red for the 10th and sixth times, respectively.

Middlebury returns home for a 10-match homestand beginning Friday against Hobart at 4:30 p.m.