National captain Roxanne Clarke was full of praise for the South African team after they punched above their weight to narrowly miss out on promotion at the Billie Jean King Cup Europe/Africa Group II tournament in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina which concluded on Sunday.
Competing in Group B at the annual tournament, South Africa won three of their four ties.
They beat Egypt (2-1), Morocco (3-0) and North Macedonia (3-0) before losing 3-0 to Bulgaria in their last group stage match.
Progressing to the semifinals, they went on to be edged out in a 2-0 defeat to Greece in the promotion playoffs.
In their battle against Greece, the SA squad put up a fight, but Despina Papamichail beat Isabella Kruger 6-2 6-3, and two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist and former world No 3 Maria Sakkari defeated Jahnie van Zyl 6-4 6-1. The dead rubber doubles match was not played.
Throughout the tournament, the squad's most experienced player, Kruger, and 17-year-old Van Zyl were the standout performers, each winning four of their seven singles and doubles matches.
"I'm very proud of the efforts of the girls and their performances. They really put it all out there and pulled off some wins I don't think most people thought we could come through with," said SA captain Roxanne Clarke.
"We put ourselves in a position to be promoted to Group I, and unfortunately we came up short against a very experienced Greek side, but I'm very happy with the team and their commitment, and everything they put in and the belief they showed.
"I couldn't have asked for a better team, so as a captain I am very happy with our results."
The SA team will compete again in the BJK Cup Europe/Africa Group II tournament next season.
/ENDS