The Lady Tigers varsity tennis team’s streak of four straight state tournament appearances is on the line today as the Region 7-AAA tournament kicks off at Lumpkin County High School.

Dawson County enters the region tournament as the No. 4 seed after two straight victories over East Hall and Fannin County. The top four teams after the region tournament, which takes place Wednesday and Thursday, will advance to the state tournament.

After a slow start to the season, the Lady Tigers are peaking at the right time. They defeated the Lady Vikings, 4-1, with wins by Savanna Kennedy (6-1, 6-0), Abbey Haymond (6-2, 6-7, 6-2) and Zoe Grindstaff (6-2, 6-4) in singles competition. Winning in doubles was the team of Ashlynn Anglin and Sammi Hafermalz (6-2, 6-4).

Dawson County followed that up with another 4-1 win, this time over Fannin County in the regular season finale. Haymond (6-4, 6-7, 6-4) and Perry (7-6, 6-2) won in singles with the teams of Zoe Grindstaff and Isabella Brown (7-6, 6-1) and Ashlynn Anglin and Sammi Hafermalz (6-1, 6-2) winning in doubles competition.

North Hall and Greater Atlanta Christian are expected to battle it out for the region crown, the goal for the Lady Tigers is to just make it to the state tournament and see what happens.

It’s shaping up to be a busy week for Kennedy, the senior leader of the team, will try to make the state tournament all four years of her high school career during the region tournament on Wednesday and Thursday and will announce her college commitment on Friday.

Despite the string of consecutive state tournament appearances, the Lady Tigers are still searching for their first win in the state tournament over that stretch. The boys will join the girls in Lumpkin County for what is shaping up to be an exciting week of tennis.