By Zach Stipe, Media Relations Assistant
WOLCOTT, Colo. – Sophomore Erica Popson and freshman Chessey Thomas carded 73s on Monday during second round action at the Golfweek Conference Challenge to help the Tennessee Lady Vol golf team vault four places up the leaderboard and into seventh-place with 18 holes remaining at the tournament.  
The Big Orange totaled 299 (+11) on day two at the Red Sky Golf Club to move up from 11th with a two-day score of 603 (+27).
UC Davis leads the tournament after posting 293-294=587 (+11) – one stroke ahead of Arizona (588). Virginia is in third (590) with Tulane (591) and Denver (592) rounding out the top-five.
UNLV's Therese Koelback leads the medalist race by three strokes, carding 69-70=139 (-5) with 18 holes still to play.
Tee times for Tuesday's final round have not been finalized, but live results will be posted at golfstat.com.
"Today was a little better," Lady Vol head coach Judi Pavon said. "I'm really pleased with Chessey's round. She had a solid day from start to finish. Erica made some mistakes out there today, but she kept it together for a good score. We just need to play a little more aggressively. The greens are very fast and tricky, and it's making it tough to make good decisions on the fairways."
Thomas carded four birdies and played 1-under golf during her second nine on Monday in recording her best score of her young collegiate career. Her two-day total of 79-73=152 (+8) has her tied for 27th.
Popson was plus-3 after just five holes, but regrouped to tally four birdies and move into a tie for 16th with a 76-73=149 (+5) score.
Junior Nathalie Mansson struggled for most of the second round, recording five bogeys, but the Stockholm, Sweden star also nabbed the first eagle of the season for the Lady Vols on the 510-yard 15th hole.
Her day two 75 coupled with her first round 72 puts her in a tie for 11th with a 147 (+3) total. She will be chasing the 11th top-10 finish of her career on the final day of the inaugural competition.
Rounding out the scores for Tennessee were sophomores Sara Monberg and
Leigh Henderson.
Monberg is tied for 47th with a two-day tally of 77-78=155 (+11), while
Henderson sits in tied-for-81st with an 81-84=165 (+21) total.

 

Lady Vol Scores

T11.   Nathalie Mansson    72-75=147 (+3)

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