The Youngstown State bowling team is ranked in the top three of the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Poll for the third straight vote. The March poll was announced by the NTCA on Thursday.

Before the December poll, the Penguins had never been higher than fifth. Now they have been third, second and third in the three most-recent votes.

Each of the top four teams in the poll are from Conference USA. Jacksonville State remained at the top line on 44 of the 51 submitted ballots and is first in the poll with 1,977 total points. Arkansas State, which won two tournaments in February, swapped places with Youngstown State from the previous poll and received the other seven first-place votes while receiving 1,820 points. The Penguins were third with 1,710 points, and Vanderbilt was fourth with 1,660.

There were 10 teams to receive at least 1,100 points, and six are Conference USA members. After YSU, the top 10 includes CUSA members Vanderbilt in fourth, Louisiana Tech in seventh and Sam Houston in 10th. Stephen F. Austin is 11th, Tulane is 13th, and Valparaiso is 17th, giving the conference 10 of the top 17 teams overall.

North Carolina A&T is the top-ranking program outside of Conference USA in fifth, Nebraska is sixth, Duquesne is eighth, and Maryville is ninth. There is a 500-point difference between YSU's 1,710 total points and Duquesne's 1,160 in eighth. There was a 190-point dropoff between 10th-ranked Sam Houston and 11th-ranked SFA.

Youngstown State will bowl in its final regular-season tournament on March 15-17 in Smyrna, Tenn. The Music City Classic hosted by Vanderbilt is slated to have more than 30 teams trying to make final preparations for conference tournaments the following weekend.