University of Tennessee Athletics
Golf Competes at Rebel Intercollegiate
March 31, 2011 | Women's Golf
March 31, 2011
By Zach Stipe, Media Relations Assistant
OXFORD, Miss. - In a final tune-up before postseason play begins, the No. 11-ranked Tennessee Lady Volunteer golf team will compete at the Rebel Intercollegiate from Friday to Sunday.
Tennessee will be looking to close out the regular season with a victory at the University of Mississippi-hosted event being played at the par-72, 6,351-yard Ole Miss Golf Course.
Tennessee's chief competition will be No. 10 Tulane and Mississippi State will join the Rebels and the Lady Vols as SEC representatives at the 54-hole, three-day competition.
Reigning Co-SEC Women's Golfer of the Week Erica Popson will look to continue her winning ways in Oxford a week after claiming her second medalist honors of the season at the Bryan National Collegiate. The Davenport, Fla., native came back from four shots down heading into the final day to win the tournament with a 4-over 220 score to lead the Lady Vols to a runner-up finish.
"We played pretty well last weekend," Lady Vol head golf coach Judi Pavon said. "Our goal was to be in the final group and have a shot to win, and we did that. Erica did great. It was really great to have an individual winner come out of the tournament. The Rebel Intercollegiate will be one of the weaker fields we've seen this season. We want to go in and win. We should be one of the favored teams and hopefully we can show up and get the win."
"The team is really coming together. We've had an attitude shift in the last few weeks towards trying to win instead of just going out there and seeing what happens. They've been competitive. We need all five to step up and perform great in the postseason."
Joining Popson, who leads the country in par-five scoring (4.68), in the lineup this weekend will be freshman Kaitlyn Rohrback, junior All-American Nathalie Mansson, sophomore Sara Monberg and freshman Chessey Thomas.
In addition to leading the country in eagles, Popson sits 25th in the Golfstat Cup and leads the Big Orange in stroke average (73.06) and rounds of par or better (seven).
Rohrback, Mansson and Monberg each have four rounds of par or better this season and at least one top-10 placement.
The Lady Vols are currently ranked 11th in the country by Golfweek, 14th according to Golfstat and No. 13 in the NGCA/Coaches poll. She has three top-10 finishes and two wins in six tournaments this season.
Tennessee will tee off the first round of the Rebel Intercollegiate at Friday at 8:39 a.m. from the first hole in a group with Tulane and Ole Miss.
Golfstat.com will provide live scoring, while twitter.com/LadyVol_Golf will have updates throughout the day.
