Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SUMTER, S.C. — The Belmont Abbey women's tennis team earned two wins to advance to the semifinals of the Conference Carolinas Tournament Friday at the Palmetto Tennis Center.
 
The No. 4 seed Crusaders opened the tournament with a 4-2 victory over Francis Marion in the first round and followed that with a 4-2 victory over No. 5 seed Emmanuel in the quarterfinals.
 
In the opening match, the Crusaders took two out of three matches in doubles play with Paola Socarras and Alexis Burkhalter clinching the point in a tiebreak.
 
In singles play, Burkhalter and Mackenzie McCarthy both earned wins in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots, respectively and Hanley Riner earned the clinching point for the Abbey to defeat the No. 9 seed Patriots.
 
In the nightcap against No. 5 seed Emmanuel, Belmont Abbey again took two of three matches to earn the point with Burkhalter and Socarras both winning along with Leilany Sanchez and Elizabeth Vollmin.
 
Burkhalter won again in singles play as well as Hanley Riner and Kaitlin Nguyen punched the ticket to the semifinals with her three-set win in No. 2 singles.  
 
Francis Marion closes its season with a 7-11 record while Emmanuel is 10-11 on the year.
 
Belmont Abbey is now 20-10 and will face No. 1 seed Lees-McRae in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Saturday.