With rain pouring down outside, the Lady Vols golf team sat inside the clubhouse telling jokes and passing the time until the deluge would subside enough to play.
“Man, I want to go out and golf,” Sara Monberg said.
“Is my elbow supposed to bend this way?” Mason Chen asked her teammates.
“Next week we’re going to make a music video … maybe to ‘Thrift Shop,’” some of the other girls discuss while doing warm-ups in an adjacent room.
With a day left before heading to Hilton Head, S.C., to play in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Tournament — and yes, Rucker is playing a concert for the teams in competition — the women’s golf team is loose and in high spirits.
No. 28 Tennessee is coming off a third place finish at the FSU Match-Up Tournament where three players finished in the top 15. The Seminole Match-Up was the first tournament of the spring season.
“The fall is to test you out and see where you’re at,” head coach Judi Pavon said. “But now these tournaments really start to matter and we’ve got to figure out what we need to be ready to do for postseason.
“Starting off at Florida State we did pretty well, always things to work on. We’ve had a good couple weeks of practice despite the weather and I we’re ready to get going again.”
The Lady Vols, who have had seven NCAA Championship appearances under Pavon, are on pace for another stellar season under the 11-year head coach.
Led by senior All-American Erica Popson, who finished tied for first in the FSU Match-Up Tournament, Tennessee has gotten off to a hot start during the spring season.
“We went down there with the intention to win the tournament, which we didn’t do, but we got a positive start to the season,” Popson said. “It was good since we had two new transfers this spring and I think they are helping the team out and they’re only getting better. I think we’re off to a good start and hopefully get some momentum to go through the spring season.”
Popson was also selected over the summer to be one of eight players to represent the U.S. team in the Curtis Cup — the amateur version of the Ryder Cup.
“(The experience) is absolutely unbelievable,” she said. “We lost by a point and that was quite heartbreaking, but it was an unbelievable experience and I wouldn’t change it for anything. There is nothing like being able to represent your country and being one of eight people (to be asked to play) every two years. It’s pretty special.”
The Lady Vols have a full schedule in March with three tournaments slated in the coming weeks. This year’s schedule is more compact than usual in order to play in more difficult tournament fields.
“We play a power packed schedule and so we play when the tournaments are set. … All four tournaments we are playing in this spring are ranked in the top 10 most difficult fields of the year,” Pavon said.
Playing against such competitive fields, Pavon wants to see her team compete throughout the weekend and make noise on the final day.
“I was to see us compete,” she said. “I think being in the top three every tournament, trying to compete to win instead of just showing up to play is really important, especially in SEC time. We haven’t been very competitive in the last couple years at the SEC (Tournament) and haven’t been a factor.”
Unlike in men’s college golf where teams must have beaten 50 percent of their competition, in women’s it doesn’t matter. All that is important is performing when postseason tournaments start.
“We play against a lot of top 25 teams every single week which makes it hard for us to win tournaments or finish high in tournaments, but it is better for us in the long run to compete against the best teams often,” Pavon said.
The Lady Vols will play in the LSU Invitational March 22-24, then turn around and travel to Greensboro, N.C., for the Bryan National Collegiate Tournament on March 29.
“We’ll have some time after the spring season before the SEC Tournament for the girls to rest and get caught up and school,” Pavon noted. “We’ll be able to get some good work in then get rested for the postseason.”
