Bowling Set for Final Fall Tournament at Hawk Classic

The Youngstown State bowling team will compete in its final tournament of the fall semester this weekend as it heads east to Delaware for the Eastern Shore Hawk Classic. The three-day tournament that begins Friday is being hosted by Maryland Eastern Shore at Millsboro Lanes.

BowlTV is streaming on six of the nine pairs of lanes, and the remaining three pairs will be streamed on the YSUsports YouTube channel. YouTube will be the source on lanes 3-4, 15-16 and 21-22. Results will be posted when they become available on the team's Twitter and Facebook accounts.

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This is Youngstown State's fourth tournament of the fall semester, and it will be the first time that the Penguins will be bowling on back-to-back weekends. YSU finished as the runners-up at its first two tournaments, and it placed sixth at last week's MOTIV Ladyjack Classic. Youngstown State was ranked ninth in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Preseason Poll, and it is looking to have a strong finish on what has been a solid fall. After the Hawk Classic concludes on Sunday, the Penguins' next tournament won't be for two months.

Tournament Format

The Hawk Classic will follow the standard 13-match rotation this weekend at Millsboro Lanes with 10 matches of qualifying and three bracket matches. There will be five Baker matches on Friday beginning at 9:55 a.m., and total pinfall will determine the winners of each head-to-head match. Five traditional matches will follow on Saturday starting at 9:55 a.m. with pinfall again determining the winners. The total pins from the first 10 matches of the tournament will determine seeding for bracket play on Sunday, which begins at 8:25 a.m. The bracket matches will be contested in a best-of-seven Baker format.

Scouting the Field

Southland Teams: Sam Houston, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Youngstown State

Ranked Teams (NTCA Preseason Poll): #2 Vanderbilt, #5 Sam Houston, #7 North Carolina A&T, #9 Youngstown State, #10 Fairleigh Dickinson, #11 Mount St. Mary's, #12 Delaware State, #13 Duquesne, #14 Maryland Eastern Shore, #16 Sacred Heart, #17 Tulane, #19 Morgan State, #22 LIU, #23 Monmouth

Teams Also Receiving Votes: Mercyhurst, Saint Francis (Pa.), Wilmington

Unranked Teams: St. Francis Brooklyn

There are 14 of the top 23 teams in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Preseason Poll competing this weekend at the Hawk Classic. In addition to the ninth-ranked Penguins, other top-10 teams in the field include No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 5 Sam Houston, No. 7 North Carolina A&T and No. 10 Fairleigh Dickson. Sam Houston, Tulane, Vanderbilt and YSU will represent the Southland Bowling League at the tournament, and they are the only four teams in the Central Region in the field.

YSU will be in the Maroon Pool with the other Southland teams, LIU, Sacred Heart, Fairleigh Dickinson, St. Francis Brooklyn and Duquesne.

YSU's Schedule

Friday - Five Baker matches beginning at 9:55 a.m.

#11 Mount St. Mary's - Lanes 15-16 | YouTube
Mercyhurst - Lanes 17-18
Wilmington - Lanes 19-20
#7 North Carolina A&T - Lanes 3-4 | YouTube
#12 Delaware State - Lanes 5-6

Saturday - Five traditional matches beginning at 9:55 a.m.

Positional round within pool
#14 Maryland Eastern Shore - Lanes 7-8
#19 Morgan State - Lanes 13-14
#23 Monmouth - Lanes 15-16 | YouTube
Saint Francis (Pa.) - Lanes 17-18

Sunday - Three best-of-seven Baker matches beginning at 8:25 a.m. Eastern

Previously at the Hawk Classic

This is the fourth time in the last five years that Youngstown State will compete at the Hawk Classic. In 2018, YSU went 2-10 and finished 16th in the final tournament before head coach Doug Kuberski took over that December. In its last two trips, in 2019 and 2021, Youngstown State posted an 8-5 head-to-head record. Last season, YSU averaged 199.53 over its last eight matches of qualifying to earn the sixth seed in the bracket, and that's where the Penguins finished.

Individually in 2021, Jade Cote was the Penguins' top finisher with a five-game score of 1,035 to place 11th. Her highest game was a 244 in a win over Fairleigh Dickinson. Megan Grams (989) and Lyndsay Ennis (987) finished 21st and 22nd respectively.

Recapping the MOTIV Ladyjack Classic

Youngstown State is coming off a sixth-place finish at the MOTIV Ladyjack Classic, which was held last weekend at Sheridan Lanes in Kenosha, Wis. The Penguins were seventh after they had to battle through missed spare opportunities and untimely splits in Baker play on Friday, and they moved up to sixth at the end of traditional play on Saturday. They were 16 pins out of fifth place after qualifying, and they dropped a best-of-seven bracket match to Nebraska to finish sixth.

The Penguins went 9-5 in head-to-head play at the tournament, which included top-25 wins over No. 4 Stephen F. Austin, No. 6 Arkansas State, No. 18 UW-Whitewater, No. 20 Lewis and No. 25 Newman.

Individually, Kirsten Moore was the Penguins' top finisher with a five-game set of 1,115 that was good for eighth among the talented field of bowlers. Madyson Marx (1,072) and Madison Doseck (1,067) finished within five pins of each other to place 15th and 16th, respectively. Lyndsay Ennis placed 26th (1,025), and Jade Cote was 30th (992). It was a breakout tournament for Doseck, who had started four traditional games in her career coming into the weekend. The sophomore averaged 213.4 in traditional play, and she averaged 20.98 pins per frame in Baker matches. Marx averaged 214.4 in the traditional format and a team-best 20.99 in Baker play.

Up Next

Youngstown State will step away from competition for two months during the break between semesters. YSU's next tournament will be Jan. 20-22, 2023, at the Northeast Classic in Deptford, N.J.