DEFIANCE: May 17 – Tyler Shipley won the Division II Singles Championship at Defiance on May 17. He defeated Jason Judis from Ottawa Hills in the final 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 to garner the Championship. Both players overcame leg cramps and muscle fatigue in the final to determine the championship.
In the semi-finals Tyler defeated Derek Krieger from Rossford, 7-6, 6-4 to advance to the finals. In this match Tyler won 4 straight games to come back from a 5-2 deficit in the first set. Krieger finally broke the string and held serve to force a tie breaker. Krieger continued on a roll to go up 6-1 in the tie breaker before Shipley won 7 straight points to win the tie breaker 8-6, and then the second set 6-4.
“Tyler showed a lot of mental toughness and fortitude to not only fight back from the 5-2 set difference but even more importantly the 6-1 deficit in the tie breaker.” said Coach Stan Schmidt. “Tyler has been working on his mental game throughout the year and I believe these two matches show he has arrived. I am very proud of how Tyler stayed focused on the task at hand and took each point as it came to turn the match around.”
This is the fourth straight year that a player from Wauseon High School has won the Singles Championship at the Defiance Sectional. Donny Hayati won for three consecutive years and now Tyler Shipley has carried on the domination for the Indians. This is the ninth year in a row Wauseon has sent players to the District tourney.
Shipley will be moving on to the District tournament at BGSU on Wednesday riding a 10 match winning streak.