Benicia High’s badminton team had its best showing ever at last weekend’s Sac-Joaquin Section championships in Stockton but still had their season come to an end.

Senior Gabriella Traver, who earlier this month became the first Lady Panther to win a Solano County Athletic Conference badminton singles championship, went 3-2 in the SJS Tournament and took fourth place. Traver was the only Benicia entry to reach Saturday’s medal rounds and her fourth-place finish was the best in school history.

Teammate Danielle Lozada lost her first singles match on Friday, won her second match but was eliminated with a loss in her third match. Benicia’s doubles tandem of senior Elena Brown and junior Jordan Whiting went 2-2 and came one victory away from advancing to the medal round.

“We had a lot of hard-working girls with a lot of experience, which shows that it takes a few years of hard work to get to that level,” said Benicia badminton coach Tom Stephens. “The girls had fun and it’s great for our program.”

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