Trevor Leaf is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Pinnacle High School for AZPreps365.com

The Pinnacle badminton team continued their great season Saturday at the Glendale Union High School District tournament at Sunnyslope High School.

The Pioneers came into the tournament with an overall record of 7-1 on the season and a six-game winning streak.

Pinnacle's top doubles pair of Sydney Boyd and Morgan Rucker were split up for the tournament to play in separate singles brackets.

Taking the court for Pinnacle in the two doubles brackets were pairs of Chloe Strachan and Bella Williams, and Sam Dirks and Emma Dorch.

Boyd got things rolling for the Pioneers early as she defeated Elizabeth Maxwell, 21-11, 21-19. Boyd followed her first-round performance with another great game. She took the two sets 21-16 and 21-11.

Rucker, who partially dislocated her shoulder two weeks ago, followed Boyd’s performance with a win of her own in two sets, 21-17 and 21-4. The second-round matchup saw Rucker lose the first set 18-21, but she bounced back and dominated the next two sets, 21-9 and 21-11.

With an opportunity to advance to the finals, Boyd squared up against Jordan Ludwig from Washington High School. Boyd dropped back-to-back sets, putting her in a position to play into the championship game, or be eliminated.

It was the same scenario for Rucker as she lost in three sets to Alana Alfredo, moving her to the elimination semifinal game.

Boyd lost the elimination game in three sets, ending her day.

In a second gymnasium, Rucker battled it out with Allison Rodriguez. She won in two sets, giving her a shot at the championship against Alfredo.

Rucker fell behind 0-6 early in the championship match.

“I was like, ‘Oh my go,d’ I need to pick myself up now, I need to get my mind straight,”  Rucker said. “Badminton is for sure athleticism, but it’s also mindset.”

Rucker bounced back to win the championship bout in three sets.

“It was a lot of mindset," Rucker said. "This is my last tournament. I’ve never placed before, so my mindset was I need to win this. It’s my last one.” 

Kicking things off for the doubles tournament were Dirks and Dorch. The two had no trouble winning their first game of the day in two sets, 21-10 and 21-6. Meanwhile, Strachan and Williams received a first-round bye.

Both doubles pairs found more success in the second round. Strachan and Williams won in three sets, and they went on to win the next game in two sets, placing them in the finals.

Dorch and Dirks also won back-to-back games in two sets placing them in the championship game as well. They toed the line against a pair from Sunnyslope and lost in two sets.

It took all three sets to determine the other championship doubles match, but Strachan and Williams took the third set, 21-18.

“We usually tell ourselves we’re not supposed to win, but we’re capable of winning and to just play the game and not think too much about it,”  Strachan said.

“Wherever they’re not, that’s where we hit it," Williams said. "We just let the game flow out and not think about it.” 

Pinnacle coach Charlie Zeeb wants to see his team continue to improve.

"We just want to continue to build our tactical skills, minimize our mistakes and we just want to make sure we are hitting to the spots that we know we need to be hitting,” Zeeb said.

The Pioneers' next game will be Tuesday when they host Westwood (4-4).