Bowling to Finish Fall Schedule This Weekend at Hawk Classic

The Youngstown State bowling team will attempt to put an exclamation point on its fall schedule when it travels to Woodbridge, Va., this weekend to compete in Maryland Eastern Shore's Hawk Classic. The three-day tournament at Bowl America Woodbridge will begin on Friday and will extend to Sunday.

Youngstown State's 13 matches will be streamed live on either the YSUsports YouTube channel or BowlTV. The video platform will depend on which pair the Penguins will be bowling on each match. Results will also be posted throughout the tournament on the @ysubowling X feed.

Live Stream: YouTube | BowlTV
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The Penguins, who were ranked sixth in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Preseason Top 25 Poll, have had a great start to the season with three straight top-four finishes. YSU won the Destination Orlando: Sunshine State Classic tournament on Oct. 29, and it was the runner-up at the Penguin Classic and finished fourth at last week's MOTIV Ladyjack Classic. This weekend's tournament hosted by UMES will be the Penguins' final competition until Jan. 19.

Tournament Preview

Previewing the Field

This will be the largest field on Youngstown State's fall schedule with 22 teams heading to Virginia's east coast. Of the 22 teams, 17 were ranked in the NTCA's preseason top 25, and YSU will be one of eight teams in the field that was ranked in the top 12.

Ranked Teams (17): #1 Vanderbilt, #4 North Carolina A&T, #6 Youngstown State, #7 Jacksonville State, #8 Sam Houston, #10 Louisiana Tech, #11 Duquesne, #12 Maryland Eastern Shore, #15 Fairleigh Dickinson, #17 Sacred Heart, #18 Mount St. Mary's, #19 Central Missouri, #20 UW-Whitewater, #21 Lincoln Memorial, #23 Delaware State, #24 Merrimack, #25 Morgan State

Teams Receiving Votes (3): Adelphi, Monmouth, Saint Francis (Pa.)

Unranked Teams (2): Bryant, Wilmington

Conference USA Teams (5): Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston, Vanderbilt, Youngstown State

Format and Schedule

The Penguins will bowl in 13 matches this weekend, and Sunday's format will deviate from the standard schedule from YSU's last two tournaments. Teams will be placed into two separate 11-member pools, and they will bowl against all 11 programs in the opposite pool during qualifying.

There will be five Baker matches on Friday beginning at 9:55 a.m. Eastern, 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. Eastern with pinfall again determining the winners. One more traditional match will begin Sunday's action at 8;25 a.m., and the total pins from the first 11 matches of the tournament will determine seeding for two matches of bracket play on Sunday. The bracket matches will be contested in a best-of-seven Baker format.

Youngstown State is in the Blue Pool along with the other four Conference USA teams and eight total teams from the Central Region.

Friday, 9:55 a.m. » Five Baker matches

#17 Sacred Heart | Lanes 5-6
#15 Fairleigh Dickinson | Lanes 35-36
Saint Francis | Lanes 23-24
#12 UMES | Lanes 15-16
#18 Mount St. Mary's | Lanes 21-22

Saturday, 9:55 a.m. » Five traditional matches

#23 Delaware State | Lanes 33-34
#25 Morgan State | Lanes 17-18
#11 Duquesne | Lanes 27-28
#4 North Carolina A&T | Lanes 29-30
#24 Merrimack | Lanes 9-10

Sunday, 8:25 a.m. » One traditional match, followed by two best-of-seven Baker matches

Monmouth | Lanes 11-12
TBA
TBA

YSU's History at the Hawk Classic

2019-20 (Millsboro Lanes)

Team finish » 8th of 18
Head-to-head record » 8-5
Top individual finisher » Nikki Mendez (42nd)

2021-22 (Millsboro Lanes)

Team finish » 6th of 15
Head-to-head record » 8-5
Top individual finisher » Jade Cote (11th)

2022-23 (Millsboro Lanes)

Team finish » 3rd of 18
Head-to-head record » 10-3
Top individual finisher » Madyson Marx (9th)

Recapping the MOTIV Ladyjack Classic

Youngstown State continued its strong fall on the lanes last weekend with a fourth-place finish out of 16 teams competing at Stephen F. Austin's MOTIV Ladyjack Classic in Kenosha, Wis. The Penguins had just one loss on each day of the three-day tournament and finished with a 10-3 record in head-to-head matches. YSU was third in the standings after Baker play on the opening day, and it was seeded fifth heading into the bracket format. The Penguins battled through 4-3 victories against Maryville and Arkansas State before falling 4-3 to Nebraska to finish fourth.

Ranked Wins: The wins over the Saints and Red Wolves in the best-of-seven format gave YSU six victories over top 10 opponents during the tournament. YSU topped No. 2 Arkansas State in the Baker total pinfall and best-of-seven formats, No. 3 Nebraska in traditional, No. 5 Stephen F. Austin in traditional, and No. 9 Maryville in both Baker formats. The Penguins also beat 20th-ranked UW-Whitewater in Baker play.

Individual Highlights: Madyson Marx had an impressive response to win the Most Valuable Player Award and top the individual standings at the MOTIV Ladyjack Classic. The senior from Maplewood, Minn., broke Youngstown State's records for highest five-game set at 1,144 and best tournament average with a 228.80 at Sheridan Lanes. Her lowest game in the set was a 213, and she peaked at 268 as she won by seven pins. It was Marx's second tournament win in her career, and it was a great bounce-back effort after she didn't have her best at the Destination Orlando tournament. Marx's other tournament win came in the spring when she topped the field at the PVAMU Invitational. Marx was joined on the all-tournament team by junior Madison Doseck, who fired a 1,075 set to finish fifth in the talented field. It was Doseck's first career all-tournament team appearance, and it continued her strong fall where she's averaged better than 205 in traditional play at all three tournaments.

Record Book Updates

The Penguins threw four of their top 18 Baker games in program history at the tournament, and three of those came in the best-of-seven bracket on Sunday as they battled three top-10 foes. The group of Ellie Drescher, Madison Doseck, Kirsten Moore, Jade Cote and Madyson Marx had games of 273 and 270 in the win over Arkansas State, and Hope Bunk slid into the lineup for a 267 game against Nebraska. The 273 ranks seventh on the all-time list, while the 270 tied for the eighth-best Baker game ever by the Penguins.
Madyson Marx set individual school records for highest five-game set and best traditional average at a tournament. She bowled a 1,144 set and averaged 228.8 to top the previous school records that she set at last year's Big Red Invitational. Adding in her performance in the Baker format, Marx's overall scoring average at the tournament was 21.95 pins per frame, which is the sixth-best mark in program history.
The Penguins averaged 204.49 overall at the tournament, which was the fourth-best per-game average in school history for tournaments that followed the standard format of five Baker matches, five traditional matches and three best-of-seven matches.

Scouting the Penguins

Team Overview: The sixth-ranked Youngstown State bowling team returns all nine bowlers from last year's squad that set a school record for win percentage and advanced to the finals at the NCAA Lansing Regional. Fifth-year senior Megan Grams leads the veteran group along with fourth-year seniors Madyson Marx and Kirsten Moore, who are coming off seasons in which they were named Honorable Mention All-Americans by the NTCA. The team also has four juniors (Jade Cote, Madison Doseck, Ellie Drescher and Lyndsay Ennis) and a pair of sophomores (Hope Bunk and Hannah Miller) returning, and Amanda Granata is the Penguins' lone newcomer. Coach Doug Kuberski, the Southland Bowling League Coach of the Year in 2019-20 and 2022-23 and the NCAA Division I Coach of the Year in 2019-20, is entering his fifth full season at Youngstown State.

Summarizing 2022-23: Youngstown State made its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance and advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in program history to punctuate a successful 2022-23 campaign. The Penguins posted their best winning percentage in program history by winning 65.9% of their matches while competing against one of the five toughest schedules in the country. Statistically, YSU also set school records for Baker frame average, spare percentage and fill-frame percentage. Depth was a key component of last season's success as four different Penguins earned all-tournament team accolades. The Penguins were ranked ninth or better in every NTCA poll last season, and they were seventh in the final poll.

News & Notes

Youngstown State has had three straight tournament MVP awards to begin the season. Kirsten Moore earned the award at the Penguin Classic when she was the top individual finisher at the season-opening tournament. Jade Cote was then named MVP of the Destination Orlando tournament as the anchor during YSU's championship run, and Madyson Marx topped the individual standings at the MOTIV Ladyjack Classic. The Penguins have more MVPs in 2023-24 than they had in their first seven years as a program combined.
YSU had the top grade-point average out of all bowling programs in the country in 2022-23 - LINK
Seniors Madyson Marx and Kirsten Moore had two of the most accomplished seasons ever by a Penguin in 2022-23. Both were named Honorable Mention All-Americans by the NTCA, and Marx was a First-Team All-Southland Selection. - LINK
Jade Cote has bowled in two international events for Team Canada since August. In October, she earned a silver medal at the IBF World Championships in trios. - LINK
YSU was ranked sixth in the NTCA Preseason Top 25 Poll, which is its highest preseason ranking in program history - LINK

Up Next

Youngstown State will have a two-month break between semesters before its next competition. The Penguins will open their spring semester at the Northeast Classic on Jan. 19.