LAKE WORTH, Fla. – Middle Tennessee (-4) came out firing on all cylinders Monday morning at the Southern Invitational, vaulting into first place with an impressive opening round of 7-under par 281 and holding its lead after a 3-over par 291 in the afternoon round.
The Blue Raiders will battle second place VCU (-3) in Tuesday's final round as they chase a third consecutive team title for the first time since 2011-12 while Old Dominion (+1) and Mercer (+1) chase the Top 2 from just five strokes off the lead.
McEntire's squad used under par rounds from four of its five players in the lineup in the morning round to take the early lead, then tallied a seventh consecutive round – stretched across three separate events – in which the Raiders finished their round with at least a share of the lead in the afternoon.