COLUMBIA, S.C. – One week before opening play at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional, South Carolina women’s golf head coach Kalen Anderson and junior Katelyn Dambaugh met with several media outlets on Thursday.

The pair of Gamecocks began their morning with an appearance on WACH FOX 57 during Good Day Columbia, and a video clip of their interview can be found on the station’s website. Following their time at WACH FOX, Anderson and Dambaugh held a joint press conference at Williams-Brice Stadium where they took questions from multiple news outlets.

Anderson guided the No. 24 Gamecocks to their 18th-straight NCAA postseason appearance and their 23^rd overall qualification for the regional stage this season. South Carolina tallied two runner-up finishes this spring, and the Gamecocks saw a fifth-place showing at the SEC Championship earlier this month. Dambaugh, the program’s current career scoring average leader (73.14), enters next week’s 54-hole event with back-to-back individual second-place finishes and the 12^th-best stroke average (71.89) in Division I.

The NCAA Baton Rouge Regional is set to take place May 5-7 at University Club in Baton Rouge, La. For more information on the event, visit the tournament’s Home Page and check back on GamecocksOnline.com next week for a full preview.

See below for some of Anderson and Dambaugh’s comments on Thursday.

Women’s Golf Coach Kalen Anderson
On the play of junior Katelyn Dambaugh this year
“Last spring she started to come into her own. She’s always had the ability to go low and do special things. The talent has been there, but she’s put in the work to have that consistency. She’s really been a leader, and her consistency week-in-and-week-out has been so critical for us. It’s a great thing for her confidence moving forward, and she’s established herself as one of the best players in the country.”

On much past NCAA postseason success will help the Gamecocks next week
“We’ve been there before. This hasn’t been our strongest year, and we’re in a little bit of a transition. But Sarah (Schmelzel), Kate and Ainhoa (Olarra) have stepped up for us. Having them been on a team that has won a regional is so critical at this stage of the season. We’re not moving into foreign territory, we’re definitely somewhere where we are comfortable. It’s a lot of pressure, but it’s something that they’ve handled very well over the years.

On South Carolina’s familiarity with University Club, the site of its NCAA Regional
“They’ve never played it, but we have been down there for a couple events at LSU a few years back. They’ve made some changes, it’s generally forgiving off the tee. The greens are pretty complex. You need to be in the right spots, and you need to leave yourself in the right spots. You can get some difficult breaks if you hit some good shots, but I know that they’ve redone the greens since we’ve been there. We’re certainly going to have to explore it when we get there, but the fact that I’ve been there will be helpful.”

On if South Carolina will look to put in a bid to host an NCAA Regional in the future
“Absolutely. We haven’t put in a bid, but that would certainly be something we’d be interested in doing. It’d be nice to be close to home, that’s for sure.”

Women’s Golf Junior Katelyn Dambaugh
On taking on a leadership role on the team this season
“I just prepared myself for that, and tried to work on myself and doing the best I can in trying to lead by example.”

On if she is playing her best golf of the season heading into next week’s NCAA Regional
“Right now I do so far because of the consistency. The last couple years I’ve been here I’ve played well and had a couple low rounds, but I haven’t been able to do that consistently from tournament to tournament. Finishing top-10 in every tournament this spring has made me see that consistency come around.”