July 15, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s golfers Ainhoa Olarra and Ana Pelaez and Spain earned fourth-place honors at the 2017 European Ladies’ Team Championship this week after advancing to the semifinal round at Montado Golf Resort in Portugal.

The Spaniards, who grabbed a spot in Flight A of the tournament following their top-eight stroke-play finish Wednesday, moved past Denmark 4.5-2.5 in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. Pelaez, a rising sophomore, and Spanish teammate Harang Lee posted a victory in the doubles match of the quarterfinals before rising senior Olarra tallied a 4&3 win in her singles match over Denmark’s Sofie Nielsen.

After falling to Italy 5-2 in the semifinal round Friday, Spain faced Sweden in Saturday’s third-place match. Olarra and Pelaez played together in their morning doubles match and notched a 2&1 win over Swedish golfers Linnea Johansson and My Leander. Pelaez registered her second victory of the day when she downed Sweden’s Filippa Moork 2&1 in her singles match this afternoon.

Spain placed third in the stoke-play portion of the tournament after totaling a 36-hole mark of 705 (-15). Pelaez carded a final-round 67 (-5) en route to a top-10 finish (T9, -5), while Olarra tied for 46th with a two-round total of 145 (+1).

Gamecock rising junior Marion Veysseyre was also in action at the European Ladies’ Team Championships, as she competed for France. The French landed in Flight B after placing 12^th ( 729, +9) in stroke play and emerged victorious in two of their three matches. France topped Switzerland 3.5-1.5 in the Flight B quarterfinals before moving past Scotland 3-2 in the semifinals Friday.

The French squad dropped Saturday’s match to Ireland 3-5-1.5 despite a 2&1 individual victory from Veysseyre in the afternoon session. Veysseyre, who tied for 67^th (148, +4) in stroke play, sported a perfect 3-0 mark in match play at the event.