Youngstown State University
Sam Houston
Bowling Earns Program's First Tournament Win, Advances to Day Two at SBL Championship
3/19/2021 12:00:00 AM | Bowling
The Youngstown State bowling team beat Valparaiso in an elimination match on Friday afternoon to stay alive at the 2021 Southland Bowling League Championship at Colonial Bowling Lanes in Harahan, La.
The Penguins, who are competing in their second-ever conference tournament, earned the first postseason victory in program history with the 2-0 win over the Crusaders. They went 0-2 in their first appearance at the SBL Championship in 2019, and they lost a classic battle with Sam Houston in their first match on Friday.
The fourth-seeded Penguins advance in the double-elimination tournament to play top-seeded Arkansas State in another elimination match on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. The Red Wolves won their opening match against Valpo but fell 2-0 to Sam Houston in the second round.
"I'm very proud of our effort today," YSU head coach Doug Kuberski said. "The match against Sam Houston may have been one of our best matches of the season. I thought both teams bowled well enough to win, and you tip your cap to them for getting it done in game seven."
"The lanes got swirly during the second match, and the ladies did a nice job grinding it out in a different scoring environment. We gathered a lot of valuable information today, and we will be ready to get after it tomorrow. This team is something special."
Teams competed in mega matches, and Sam Houston took the first point with a 977-887 win in traditional play. Youngstown State evened the match by winning the Baker match point 1,041-983, which brought the match to a best-of-seven series of Baker games.
Sam Houston took a 2-0 lead with 221-213 and 203-196 wins in the first two games of the series, and the Penguins got on the board with a 226-99 win in the third. SHSU won another close game, 187-178, to take a 3-1 lead to put Youngstown State up against the wall, but the Penguins responded with sizeable 267-215 and 243-159 wins to force a seventh game. The Bearcats bounced back to throw 10 strikes in a 248-201 decision in game seven to advance in the winners bracket.
Emma Wrenn's 212 carried the Penguins to a 907-870 win in traditional play versus the Crusaders, and YSU bowled above 190 in three of their five Baker games to win the point 913-898. Youngstown State built a 29-pin advantage with a 198-169 margin in the first game, and the Penguins remained ahead the rest of the match despite the Crusaders closing to within 10 pins heading into the fifth game.
Live video of the tournament is being streamed live on the InsideBowling channel on YouTube. If the Penguins beat the Red Wolves, they will compete against the winner of the match between No. 2 Louisiana Tech and No. 7 Stephen F. Austin at 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
