Second-Ranked Bowling Travels to Arkansas for Mid-Winter Invitational

With its highest ranking in program history, the Youngstown State bowling team will compete in another talented field at the three-day Mid-Winter Invitational this Friday through Sunday. The tournament will be hosted by Arkansas State, and it will be held at Hijinx in Jonesboro, Ark.

All 13 of YSU's matches will be streamed live on the YSUsports YouTube channel, and results will be posted throughout the weekend on the @ysubowling X feed.

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The Penguins have finished fourth or better in each of their first six tournaments, and their consistency resulted in a second-place ranking in the February release of the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Poll. Most recently, Youngstown State finished third overall and posted an 11-2 record at the prestigious PVAMU Invitational on Jan. 26-28. Nine of those victories were against teams ranked in the top 11 of the most recent National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Poll.

Tournament Preview

The Mid-Winter Invitational will feature an 18-team field, and 14 of those 17 teams are ranked in February's Top 25 poll. Further indicating the field's strength, nine of the top 11 teams in the country will convene in Jonesboro. There will also be seven Conference USA teams in the field as the conference's tournament looms just five weeks ahead.

Previewing The Field

Ranked Teams (14): #1 Jacksonville State, #2 Youngstown State, #3 Arkansas State, #5 Vanderbilt, #6 Nebraska, #7 Louisiana Tech, #8 Stephen F. Austin, #10 Maryville, #11 Sam Houston, #15 UW-Whitewater, #16 Newman, #17 Oklahoma Christian, #23 McKendree, #24 Central Missouri

Unranked Teams (4): Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Grambling, Jackson State

Conference USA Teams (6): Arkansas State, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Vanderbilt, Youngstown State

Format and Schedule

The Mid-Winter Invitational will follow the standard 13-match rotation this weekend at Hijinx. There will be five Baker matches on Friday beginning at 11 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 10:25 a.m. ET 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 will begin at 9:10 a.m. Eastern. The bracket matches will be contested in a best-of-seven Baker format.

Youngstown State will compete in the Red Pool, and it will bowl against all nine teams in the Grey Poll as well as one from its own group during qualifying.

Friday, 11 a.m. ET » Five Baker matches

#23 McKendree - Lanes 25-26
Alabama A&M - Lanes 7-8
#10 Maryville - Lanes 5-6
#6 Nebraska - Lanes 23-24
#16 Newman - Lanes 11-12

Saturday, 10:25 a.m. ET » Five traditional matches

#11 Sam Houston - Lanes TBA
Grambling - Lanes 13-14
#24 Central Missouri - Lanes 17-18
#3 Arkansas State - Lanes 29-30
#5 Vanderbilt - Lanes 19-20

Sunday, 9:10 a.m. » Three best-of-seven Baker matches

YSU's History at the Mid-Winter Invitational

This will be the fifth consecutive season that Youngstown State will compete at the Mid-Winter Invitational, and the tournament has been held at the Hijinx each time. The Penguins' best finish as a team came in 2020-21 when they were fourth in the 11-team field. They have placed eighth in their other three trips to Jonesboro, Ark. Senior Madyson Marx has had two top-10 finishes individually at the Mid-Winter Invitational, placing fifth in 2021 and eighth in 2023. Her fifth-place showing three years ago earned her a spot on the all-tournament team.

2019-20 (Hijinx)

Team finish » 8th of 19
Head-to-head record » 8-4
Top individual finisher » Emma Dockery (19th)

2020-21 (Hijinx)

Team finish » 4th of 11
Head-to-head record » 7-5
Top individual finisher » Madyson Marx (5th - all-tournament team)

2021-22 (Hijinx)

Team finish » 8th of 18
Head-to-head record » 7-6
Top individual finisher » Emma Wrenn (20th)

2022-23 (Hijinx)

Team finish » 8th of 17
Head-to-head record » 8-4
Top individual finisher » Madyson Marx (8th)

Recapping the PVAMU Invitational

Youngstown State went 11-2 and had nine wins against teams ranked in the top 11 of the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Poll as it finished third at the PVAMU Invitational on Jan. 28. The Penguins qualified second for the best-of-seven bracket, and YSU split its two matches in the bracket. Youngstown State dropped a seven-game decision to Arkansas State, and it bounced back to beat Nebraska 4-2. YSU averaged 206.3 per game at the tournament, which was the second-best average in the field, and it had the highest six-game total in traditional play with 6,391 total pins.

Ranked Wins: Youngstown State beat No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 6 Arkansas State and No. 10 Maryville as part of a 4-1 showing in Baker play, and it went undefeated in its six traditional matches. The Penguins topped No. 4 Louisiana Tech, No. 5 North Carolina A&T, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 9 Stephen F. Austin and No. 11 Sam Houston in a gauntlet of ranked opponents. YSU then topped the seventh-ranked Huskers again in the best-of-seven bracket.

Individual Highlights: The Penguins used the same lineup throughout traditional play, and all five players finished in the top 20. Jade Cote led the squad with a second-place finish, and Lyndsay Ennis (seventh) and Kirsten Moore (eighth) joined her in the top 10. Cote was named to the all-tournament team for the second straight week, and she went on to be named the Conference USA Bowler of the Month for January.

Record Book Updates

As a team, the Penguins averaged 213.03 in their six traditional games. That was the third-highest average for a tournament in YSU history.
Jade Cote, Hope Bunk, Kirsten Moore, Lyndsay Ennis and Madyson Marx combined for a 1,144 traditional match total against Sam Houston, which was the sixth-highest set in program history.
Cote broke the school record for a six-game set with a 1,372. She broke Marx's previous standard of 1,324 that was set at the 2021 Mid-Winter Invitational.
Cote's average of 228.67 was the third-best traditional average at a tournament in program history.

Scouting the Penguins

Team Overview: The second-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. That trio has been to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons, including a Final Four run in 2020-21. 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.

News & Notes

YSU was ranked sixth in the NTCA Preseason Top 25 Poll, which was is its highest preseason ranking in program history. In the first in-season poll of 2023-24, Youngstown State elevated to third and received the program's first-ever first-place vote. The Penguins then moved up one spot to second in the February release - LINK
Youngstown State 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.
Cote was named the Conference USA Bowler of the Month for January. She was the individual tournament champion at the Northeast Classic, and she was the runner-up at the PVAMU Invitational. - LINK
Youngstown State has bowled the second-toughest schedule in the country this season, according to the NCAA RPI. The Penguins are ranked third in the RPI that was released on Feb. 6.
YSU is on pace to smash several single-season school records. Among them are Baker average (20.73), traditional (20.72), fill percentage (85.6%) and strike percentage (54.3%).
Youngstown State ranks second in the country in overall scoring average at 20.73 pins per frame, and it is second in both formats.
Cote ranks third in the country in scoring average this season at 21.85 pins per frame, while Marx is 14th at 20.87. Cote leads the nation in strike percentage at 60.8%, and she also tops the national chart in Baker double percentage at 65.7%.
YSU had the top grade-point average out of all bowling programs in the country in 2022-23 - LINK
Marx and 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
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. Between semesters, Cote clinched positions on Team Canada and Youth Team Canada for 2024. She was named Canada's Adult Bowler of the Year for 2023 by the Canadian Tenpin Federation. - LINK

Up Next

Youngstown State's final tournament of the regular season will be the Music City Classic in Smyrna, Tenn., on March 15-17.