Nearly one month after winning the first national championship in program history, Youngstown State's bowling team was announced as the top team in the final National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 poll. The results of the final vote were revealed on Wednesday.
The Penguins earned 34 first-place votes from the 35 coaches who submitted a final ballot to finish on the top line for the first time in program history. YSU's previous high for an end-of-season ranking was third in 2023-24.
The Penguins received 1,485 total points in the poll, and Jacksonville State, which YSU beat 4-3 in the finals of the National Collegiate Bowling Championship, was second with 1,378 points. Nebraska received the other first-place vote and finished third in the final poll with 1,326 points, and Wichita State was fourth with 1,246 points. The Huskers and Shockers were the additional two teams that competed at the Final Four.
Seven Conference USA teams finished in the top nine in the final poll, and YSU, Jacksonville State, Wichita State and Vanderbilt gave the league four of the top five spots. Arkansas State was slotted seventh, while Sam Houston was eighth and Stephen F. Austin was ninth. Additionally, Louisiana Tech was 11th, Tulane was slotted 20th, and Valparaiso was 24th.
North Carolina A&T, which Youngstown State beat in the finals of the Rochester Regional, moved up two spots from eighth to sixth in the final poll.
Youngstown State was fourth in the last poll that was released on March 6, and it won three of its final four tournaments to finish the season. The Penguins topped the field at the 31-team Music City Classic to conclude the regular season, and they shook off an 0-2 week at the Conference USA Championship at the end of March. Youngstown State outlasted the Aggies in a winner-take-all, best-of-seven Baker match in Rochester to advance to its third Final Four in the last five years, and the Penguins posted a 3-1 record in Las Vegas.
YSU beat Nebraska 2-0 in a mega match to open play at the Suncoast Bowling Center, and it lost 2-1 to Jacksonville State in the winner's bracket final. The Penguins then topped the Huskers again in an elimination match to advance to the championship, and YSU beat the Gamecocks 4-3 in an exciting best-of-seven Baker match that was broadcast live on ESPNU and ESPN+.
