Feb. 9, 2009

Round 2 Results

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico -- Led by freshman Nathalie Mansson's two-under 70, the Lady Vols tallied a team score of 300 (+12) and rose to tied for fifth-place after the completion of the second round on Monday at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic.

Mansson's score was the lowest individual round of the day, and of the tournament thus far. The Stockholm, Sweden, native is tied for fifth at three-over-par (77-70=147) on the 6,219-yard Coco Beach Golf Course. Her score tied her season-best she shot during the second round of the season-opening Cougar Classic in September.

Sophomore Lauren Spurlock (73), junior Diana Cantú (78) and sophomore Rebecca Watson (79) combined with Mansson to shoot 300, the second-best team score of the tournament. Junior Ginny Brown (81) was UT's fifth player.

"Both Nathalie (Mansson) and Lauren (Spurlock) played awesome today," Lady Vol head coach Judi Pavon said. "We needed one more good score from someone to have a really good day, but we were better today. The team had a great practice after today's round and we're expecting to move up the leader board with a good round tomorrow."

Spurlock's round was her second-best of the season. The Germantown, Tenn., native carded a 69 on the first day of play at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships in October. She is tied for 39th (84-73=157).

Cantú is tied for 23rd (76-78=154), Watson is tied for 46th (79-79=158) and Brown is tied for 59th (80-81=161).

Paired with Sunday's first round score of 312, UT has a two-day total of 612 (+36) and is tied with No. 21 Kent State (308-304) for fifth-place, one stroke ahead of New Mexico (313-300).

Tournament-host Purdue fired an even-par 288 during the second round to take a commanding 10-shot lead into Tuesday's final round. Following No. 15 Purdue (304-288=592) are No. 8 Georgia (302-300=602), TCU (302-301=603) and North Carolina State (310-300=610).

Purdue's Maria Hernandez, Indiana's Lauren Nochta, N.C. State's Lauren Doughtie and TCU's Prisela Campbell are tied for the individual lead at two-over, 146 - just one stroke ahead of UT's Mansson.

The tournament wraps up Tuesday with teams teeing off at 8 a.m. ET. The Lady Vols will be looking to record their best finish of the season. Their eighth-place posting at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championships is the Lady Vols' current season-best.