YSU to Bowl at Music City Classic in Final Regular Season Tournament

Youngstown State's bowling team will have its final opportunity to tune up for the postseason this weekend as it competes among a large field at the Music City Classic in Smyrna, Tenn. The three-day event featuring 31 teams will be hosted by Vanderbilt at the Smyrna Bowling Center.

The Penguins' 13 matches will be streamed live on either BowlTV or the YSUsports YouTube channel depending on which pair they are bowling on. Results will be posted throughout the weekend on the team's Instagram and Facebook stories and its X feed.

Live Stream: YouTube | BowlTV
Live Results: Google Sheet
YSU Bowling on Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | X
Mobile App: iOS Download | Android Download

Tournament Preview

This will be Youngstown State's final opportunity to improve its seed for next week's Conference USA Championship, which will be held March 19-23 at Colonial Lanes in Harahan, La. The Penguins would currently be the third seed based on the NCAA's RPI, and they have two conference teams immediately above and below them. All five teams in that chunk will compete this weekend in Smyrna as part of the 31-team field.

The field includes eight Conference USA teams overall and 18 squads that are ranked in the March poll of the National Tenpin Coaches Association. Top-ranked Nebraska is idle until the NCAA Tournament, but the teams ranked second through 13th will all be at the Smyrna Bowling Center.

A Look at the Field

Top-25 Ranked Teams (18): #2 Jacksonville State, #3 Vanderbilt, #4 Youngstown State, #5 Wichita State, #6 Arkansas State, #7 Sam Houston, #8 North Carolina A&T, #9 Stephen F. Austin, #10 Maryville, #11 Louisiana Tech, #12 Sacred Heart, #13 UW-Whitewater, #16 Farleigh Dickinson, #17 McKendree, #18 Maryland-Eastern Shore, #19 UAB, #21 Wright State, #25 Emmanuel

Additional Teams (13): Alabama A&M, Aurora, Belmont Abbey, Howard, Illinois Wesleyan, Indianapolis, Jackson State, Lewis, Marian, Newman (rv), Oklahoma Christian (rv), Quincy, William Smith

Conference USA Teams (8): Arkansas State, Jacksonville State, Louisiana Tech, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Vanderbilt, Wichita State, Youngstown State

Format and Schedule

The Music City Classic will deviate from the standard 13-match format this weekend to accommodate the 31 teams. Teams are divided into four pools, and Youngstown State is one of eight teams in Pool C. The Penguins will bowl the eight teams in Pool A, and they will also have three position rounds across pools to begin play on Saturday.

Teams will bowl in five Baker matches on Friday beginning at 10:30 a.m. Eastern, and total pinfall will determine the winners of each match. The total pinfall from Friday will determine the opponents for the three position rounds on Saturday.

Saturday's five traditional matches will begin at 10:25 a.m. Eastern with total pinfall determining the winners, and teams will then bowl another traditional match on Sunday at 9:25 a.m. Eastern to finish qualifying. Teams will then be seeded into a bracket to determine the final standings, and the matches in the bracket will best a best-of-seven Baker format.

During qualifying, Youngstown State will bowl against Alabama A&M, No. 6 Arkansas State, No. 2 Jacksonville State, Lewis, Marian, Quincy, No. 7 Sam Houston and No. 19 UAB.

Friday at 10:30 a.m. Eastern » Five Baker matches

Match 1 vs. Marian - Lanes 23-24 (BowlTV - Channel 3)
Match 2 vs. Alabama A&M - Lanes 45-46 (YouTube)
Match 3 vs. Quincy - Lanes 17-18 (BowlTV - Channel 2)
Match 4 vs. #2 Jacksonville State - Lanes 33-34 (BowlTV - Channel 5)
Match 5 vs. Lewis - Lanes 13-14 - (YouTube)

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

Match 6 - #5 Wichita State - Lanes 11-12 - (YouTube)
Match 7 - #3 Vanderbilt - Lanes 17-18 - (BowlTV - Channel 2)
Match 8 - #8 North Carolina A&T - Lanes 47-48 - (YouTube)
Match 9 vs. #7 Sam Houston - Lanes 41-42 - (YouTube)
Match 10 vs. #19 UAB - Lanes 7-8 - (YouTube)

Sunday at 9:25 a.m. Eastern » One traditional match, followed by two best-of-seven Baker matches

Match 11 #6 Arkansas State - Lanes 25-26 (Bowl TV - Channel 4)

YSU's History at the Music City Classic

Youngstown State has bowled at the Music City Classic seven times in its first eight seasons as a program, and its best showing came in 2023-24. The Penguins placed second overall last season among 33 teams, and they posted a 9-4 head-to-head record. YSU held the second spot after qualifying, and it beat Jacksonville State 4-1 to earn a bye into the championship. The Gamecocks won the title battle in six games.

Kirsten Moore was the individual champion at last year's tournament with a five-game set of 1,170, and Madyson Marx joined her on the all-tournament team with a fifth-place set of 1,121. The Penguins have had another all-tournament team honoree at the tournament as Rachel Darrow placed third at YSU's first trip in 2016-17.

2016-17 (Columbia 300 Music City Classic)

Team finish » 20th of 35
Head-to-head record » 3-9
Top individual finisher » Rachel Darrow (3rd)

2017-18 (Columbia 300 Music City Classic)

Team finish » 19th of 32
Head-to-head record » 8-5
Top individual finisher » Ashley Kolb (40th)

2018-19 (Columbia Music City Classic)

Team finish » 11th of 29
Head-to-head record » 6-6
Top individual finisher » Nikki Mendez (17th)

2019-20 (Columbia Music City Classic)

Team finish » 18th of 29
Head-to-head record » 5-8
Top individual finisher » Emma Dockery (21st)

2021-22 (Columbia Music City Classic)

Team finish » 10th of 33
Head-to-head record » 10-3
Top individual finisher » Emma Dockery (35th)

2022-23 (Music City Classic)

Team finish » 8th of 30
Head-to-head record » 7-6
Top individual finisher » Madyson Marx (21st)

2023-24 (Music City Classic)

Team finish » 2nd of 33
Head-to-head record » 9-3
Top individual finisher » Kirsten Moore (1st)

Recapping the Mid-Winter Invitational

Youngstown State prevailed through a gauntlet of long matches against top-four opponents to post a 3-0 record on the final day and finished third at Arkansas State's Mid-Winter Invitational on Feb. 16. The Penguins were fifth after two days of qualifying, and they outlasted No. 4 Arkansas State, No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Vanderbilt in best of seven matches that each went the duration.

Jade Cote was the tournament's Most Valuable Player after winning the individual title during traditional play with a five-game set of 1,201. She broke YSU's record for best overall frame average at a tournament at 23.41, and she had the third-highest averages in both the Baker and traditional formats.

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 fourth in the most recent National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 Poll, and the Penguins are fourth in the NCAA's RPI. The RPI is used for seeding in next week's Conference USA Championship, and YSU would currently be the third seed in the conference event behind Jacksonville State and Vanderbilt.
This is YSU's first team competition since the Mid-Winter Invitational, which concluded on Feb. 16. During the break, Drescher, Granata, Marx and Moore competed as individuals in the section round of the USBC Intercollage Singles Championships, and Granata earned a spot in the finals for her performance at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich.
The Penguins are 75-29 overall in head-to-head matches against the third-hardest schedule in the country. YSU's winning percentage is .721, ahead of last season's record pace of .690.
YSU has fivetop-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. Cote was then the MVP at the Mid-Winter Invitational on Feb. 14-16 for her second career individual title and second MVP award. Marx and Moore have also won tournament titles in their careers.
Cote was named the Conference USA Co-Bowler of the Month in both January and February. It was the second straight January that she earned the monthly award from the conference office.
Cote leads the Penguins in overall scoring average at 21.51 pins per frame, and she is averaging an impressive 21.70 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 20.79 pins per frame overall, Doseck is averaging 20.75, and Moore is at 20.20.
Through tournaments completed on March 2, Cote ranks third in the country in overall scoring average, and she has the second-highest average in Baker. Marx is 14th in overall average, and Doseck is ninth in Baker average. Cote and Doseck both rank among the top five in the country in strike percentage.
Cote earned positions on the 2025 Team Canada and 2025 Youth Team Canada at her home country's trials earlier this year. Moore became the first Penguin in program history to be invited to Team USA after her performance at the USBC Team USA Trials.
Youngstown State announced its full group of high school commitments from the 2025 class in February. The six Penguins joining the program for the 2025-26 season include Alivia Baskin (Elk Mound, Wis.), Kaitlyn Greenaway (Boardman, Ohio), Leyna Kratzer (Bangor, Pa.), Amber Mason (Woodbridge, Va.), Amber Spicer (Canton, Mich.) and Gianna Varano (Stony Point, N.Y.)

Up Next

Youngstown State will compete at the Conference USA Championship next week at Colonial Lanes in Harahan, La.