Bowling to Make First Appearance at Flyer Classic this Friday

Youngstown State's bowling team will compete at the Flyer Classic for the first time in program history this Friday through Sunday in Lockport, Ill. The three-day event is being hosted by Lewis University at Strike N Spare II.

The Penguins' 13 matches will be streamed live on the YSUsports YouTube channel, and results will be posted throughout the weekend on the team's Instagram and Facebook stories and its and X feed.

Live Stream: YouTube
YSU Bowling on Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | X
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Tournament Preview

The Flyer Classic has a 22-team field that features 13 teams ranked in February's National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 poll. Nine of the top 10 teams in the poll will be in attendance, and there will be eight teams from Conference USA.

Looking at the field

Ranked Teams (13): #1 Nebraska, #2 Vanderbilt, #3 Jacksonville State, #5 Youngstown State, #6 North Carolina A&T, #7 Wichita State, #8 Sam Houston, #9 Stephen F. Austin, #10 Maryville, #14 UW-Whitewater, #19 Wright State, #20 Tulane, #25 Valparaiso

Unranked Teams (9): Augustana, Aurora, Carroll, Elmhurst, Indianapolis, Lewis, Marian (rv), Oklahoma Christian, Quincy

Conference USA Teams (8): Jacksonville State, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Tulane, Valparaiso, Vanderbilt, Wichita State, Youngstown State

Format and Schedule

The Flyer Classic will follow the NCAA's standard 13-match format. Teams will bowl in five Baker matches on Friday beginning at 11:35 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. Eastern with total pinfall again determining the winners. Teams' totals from Friday and Saturday will be combined to determine seeding for the bracket, which will be contested in three best-of-seven Baker matches.

Friday at 11:35 a.m. Eastern » Five Baker matches

Match 1 vs. Marian - Lanes 13-14
Match 2 vs. #1 Nebraska - Lanes 31-32
Match 3 vs. Quincy - Lanes 35-36
Match 4 vs. #25 Valparaiso - Lanes 29-30
Match 5 vs. #20 Tulane - Lanes 19-20

Saturday at 10:25 a.m. Eastern » Five traditional matches

Match 6. vs. #2 Vanderbilt - Lanes 23-24
Match 7 vs. #6 North Carolina A&T - Lanes 7-8
Match 8 vs. Aurora - Lanes 5-6
Match 9 vs. #9 Stephen F. Austin - Lanes 11-12
Match 10 vs. #10 Maryville - Lanes 25-26

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

Recapping the Prairie View A&M Invitational

Youngstown State is coming off a sixth-place finish at the prestigious Prairie View A&M Invitational two weeks ago at The ITRC. The Penguins bowled well and averaged 205.2 at the tournament, but the scoring pace was above that as YSU finished in the middle of the field and went 4-9 in head-to-head matches.

YSU ran into high scores from its opponents at an irregular rate over the three days in Arlington, Texas. In fact, opponents averaged 210.2 against the Penguins, which is the highest collective opponent average that a team has faced in the country this season at a single tournament. Ranked opponents averaged a staggering 216.8 in matches against YSU.

Jade Cote was YSU's highest-scoring individual with an overall scoring average of 21.78. She averaged 22.34 in Baker play, which helped propel her to being named the Co-Bowler of the Month for January by Conference USA. Kirsten Moore finished 17th individually in traditional play with a 1,310 set over six games, and Cote was 24th. Madyson Marx averaged 215.6 over five matches.

A Glimpse at the Guins

Team Overview: Youngstown State has high aspirations of returning to the Final Four for the third time in the last five years in 2024-25. Eight bowlers return from last year's team that won the Lansing Regional and finished third overall at the NCAA Championship. A trio of All-Americans, fourth-year senior Jade Cote and fifth-year seniors Madyson Marx and Kirsten Moore, headline the veteran returning group that includes seven upperclassmen. Madison Doseck, Ellie Drescher and Lyndsay Ennis are fourth-year seniors, Hannah Miller is a junior, Amanda Granata is a sophomore, and Kara Beissel is the lone freshman. Doug Kuberski, the 2023-24 Bill Straub Division I National Coach of the Year, is in his sixth full season at Youngstown State.

Youngstown State is ranked fifth in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Poll, which mirrors its ranking in the NTCA's Power Index Rating that matches the RPI's rankings model.
The Penguins are 56-22 overall in head-to-head matches. YSU's winning percentage is .718, ahead of last season's record pace of .690.
YSU has four top-four finishes at tournaments this season, and it won the 20-team Garden State Classic in November and finished second at the 38-team Northeast Classic in January. The Penguins won 24 consecutive matches at one point over those two tournaments.
Doseck was the Most Valuable Player at the Garden State Classic by winning her first individual title. She, Cote, Marx and Moore have all won tournament titles in their careers.
Cote leads the Penguins in overall scoring average at 21.22 pins per frame, and she is averaging an impressive 21.55 in Baker play. Both of those are ahead of the single-season school records that she set in 2023-24 (21.08 overall, 21.31 in Baker). Marx is averaging 20.92 pins per frame overall, Doseck is averaging 20.35, and Moore is just behind at 20.32.
At the conclusion of January, Cote ranked fifth in the country in overall scoring average, while Marx was 12th. Cote was second in the national circuit in strike percentage at 58.8%.
Cote was named the Conference USA Co-Bowler of the Month in January. It was the second straight January that she earned the monthly award from the conference office.
Cote earned positions on the 2025 Team Canada and 2025 Youth Team Canada at her home country's trials earlier this month. Moore became the first Penguin in program history to be invited to Team USA after her performance at the USBC Team USA Trials.

Up Next

Youngstown State will compete again next weekend at Arkansas State's Mid-Winter Invitational in Jonesboro, Ark.