The Dawson County High School boys’ tennis team dropped a 5-0 decision last week at home against Banks County.

With the loss Dawson moved to 1-1 on the season.

“I was really proud of some of the effort I saw,” said Head Coach Chris Lundy. “Some of the guys took their losses really hard. I appreciate their competitiveness, but I told the guys that I’d rather them lose every match to great players than destroy mediocre opponents.”

Number one Tiger singles player Spencer Roper lost his match to a very good Banks County player in Trey Martin by an 8-0 score.

At number two singles, Cameron Milholland played a close match with Jabe Schaefer, but lost 8-5.

Lane Ventors also lost a nail-biting match to Justin Yang, 8-6, at number three singles.

Both doubles teams of Jon Branson and his partner Conner Tarver and number two doubles Mason Cox and Tyler Stoakes lost 8-2 to the Leopards.

“Playing good competition only makes you better. We’re at a point in the season where we’re playing non-region opponents. This is the time to learn from our mistakes,” Lundy said.

Tigers Craig Butler and Dakota Wood won their exhibition doubles match, 5-4.

“I was really proud of these two guys, they waited almost three hours at the chance to play a match and played like they were in the region tournament,” Lundy said.

Dawson will travel to Gilmer today and East Hall on Thursday for Region matches. The Tigers will be back at home next Tuesday. The team will play host to Union County. All matches start at 4 p.m.