Youngstown, Ohio — Youngstown State's bowling team will compete in its final tournament of the fall semester this weekend at the Colonial Lanes Classic. The three-day event will begin on Friday at Colonial Lanes in Harahan, La., and Tulane is serving as the host.
Tulane is providing a live stream of each pair on its YouTube channel, @TUGreenWave. Results will be posted throughout the weekend on the team's Instagram and Facebook stories and its X feed, and live results will be updated on a Google Sheet.
Tournament Preview
Youngstown State heads to the New Orleans area to compete for the first time since Oct. 26 and for the last time until Jan. 16. This is the first time the Penguins will compete at this event, but Colonial Lanes is a familiar setting for the program. YSU's seven newcomers will get its first look at the center that annually hosts the Conference USA Championship.
The Penguins are one of 16 teams in the field, which is divided into two polls. Youngstown State will bowl the eight other teams in the group and two teams within its own during qualifying.
A Look at the Field
Top-25 Ranked Teams (11): #2 Nebraska, #3 Vanderbilt, #4 Youngstown State, #5 Wichita State, #6 Arkansas State, #7 North Carolina A&T, #8 Sam Houston, #9 Louisiana Tech, #12 Duquesne, #18 UAB, #19 Tulane
Additional Teams (5):Â Florida A&M, Jackson State, Prairie View A&M, Southern, Texas Southern
Conference USA Teams (7): Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Nebraska, Sam Houston, Tulane, Vanderbilt, Wichita State, Youngstown State
Format and Schedule
The Colonial Lanes Classic will follow the NCAA's standard 13-match format. Teams will bowl in five Baker matches on Friday beginning at 10:45 a.m. ET, 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. ET with total 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 9:30 a.m. The bracket matches will be contested in a best-of-seven Baker format.
Friday at 10:45 a.m. ET — Five Baker matches
Match 1 vs. No. 9 Louisiana Tech — Lanes 13-14
Match 2 vs. Texas Southern — Lanes 17-18
Match 3 vs. No. 19 Tulane — Lanes 21-22
Match 4 vs. No 7 North Carolina A&T — Lanes 5-6
Match 5 vs. No. 3 Vanderbilt — Lanes 7-8
Saturday at 9:55 a.m. ET — Five Traditional matches
Match 6 vs. Florida A&M — Lanes 9-10
Match 7 vs. No. 5 Wichita State — Lanes 15-16
Match 8 vs. No. 18 UAB — Lanes 19-20
Match 9 vs. No. 2 Nebraska — Lanes 21-22
Match 10 vs. No. 8 Sam Houston — Lanes 5-6
Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET — Three best-of-seven Baker matches
Recapping Destination Orlando
Youngstown State had to battle through low scores but still managed to finish with seven wins at the Destination Orlando event on Oct. 24-26. The Penguins lost their first three matches at AMF Sky Lanes, but they went on a stretch of seven wins in eight decisions to regain their footing. Among those wins were victories in traditional play against No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Vanderbilt and No. 6 Arkansas State.
Sophomore Kara Beissel was the Penguins' 0verall scoring leader in Orlando with an average of 19.77 pins per frame, and she averaged 20.59 in Baker play. Leyna Kratzer was YSU's leader in the traditional format with a 1,021 set, which resulted in a 13th-place finish.
A Glimpse at the Guins
- Youngstown State is in a new era this season — one as a program that has won a national championship and one that has seven newcomers and just one returner from last season's title-winning squad on its 2025-26 roster.
- The Penguins are the fourth-ranked team in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Preseason Poll.
- YSU is coming off a storybook season in 2024-25 in which six seniors led the Penguins to the 2025 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship. It was the first national championship ever in a women's sport at Youngstown State and its first in any sport since 1997. YSU has been to the NCAA Tournament in five straight seasons and reached the Final Four three times.
- While the Penguins celebrated their momentous accomplishment, they're ready to turn the page with six freshmen, a junior transfer and returning sophomore Kara Beissel looking to carry on the tradition. Beissel waited her turn behind the veteran lineup last season, but she stepped up in a big way when she was called upon and was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Final Four.
- Amy Chrzanowski, a junior transfer from FDU, is the most-experienced collegiate bowler on the roster. She primarily bowled fourth in the Knights' lineup last season, earning Second Team All-NEC honors and helping FDU to the NCAA Tournament.
- Freshman Leyna Kratzer has been the team's top individual finisher in its first two tournaments. She finished seventh at the Chelsea Gilliam Penguin Classic to open the season, and she placed 13th at Destination Orlando.
- This is Youngstown State's 10th season as an intercollegiate program, and Doug Kuberski is entering his seventh full season as head coach. He took over midway through the 2018-19 season, and he has gone on to lead the Penguins to five NCAA tournaments and three Final Four appearances. Kuberski is a two-time National Coach of the Year (2020 and 2024) and a two-time conference coach of the year (2020 and 2023), and he earned his 500th victory at YSU on Oct. 19 against Vanderbilt. Madyson Marx, a First-Team All-American last season and a five-year member of the program, has joined the staff as a graduate assistant, and Mackenzie Olesky is in her third season as an assistant coach.
Up Next
Youngstown State will have six tournaments in the spring semester before the Conference USA Championship in March. The first event on the spring slate will be the Northeast Classic on Jan. 16-18 in New Castle, Del.
