Former Youngstown State bowler Mackenzie Olesky has served as an assistant coach for the program since the 2023-24 season, and the Penguins have had unprecedented success with her on head coach Doug Kuberski’s staff.
YSU reached the pinnacle of the sport in 2024-25 by winning the National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Championship at the Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas. The Penguins captured the Rochester Regional title by outlasting North Carolina A&T in the finals, then beat Nebraska twice at the Final Four to set up a showdown with defending national champion Jacksonville State.
Youngstown State won the first two games in the best-of-seven Baker match that was broadcast nationally on ESPNU, and it held a 3-1 lead to reach the brink of its first national championship. The Gamecocks won games five and six to tie the match, and Youngstown State stayed clean in game seven to win 228-203. The Penguins claimed the school’s first national championship in a women’s sport and their first in any sport since 1997.
Jade Cote, a First-Team All-American for the second straight season, was named the Most Valuable Player at the Final Four after anchoring the Penguins all tournament. Fifth-year senior Madyson Marx, another First-Team All-American, and freshman Kara Beissel joined Cote on the All-Tournament Team in Las Vegas.
The win at Suncoast capped a dream season for the Penguins, who were led by two fifth-year seniors and four fourth-year seniors. Kirsten Moore, a two-time Elite 90 Award winner, was a fifth-year senior along with Marx, and Cote, Madison Doseck, Ellie Drescher and Lyndsay Ennis were in their fourth seasons at YSU. Doseck was an Honorable Mention All-American, concluding a significant upward trend in her performance throughout her career.
Youngstown State set school records with 93 victories and a .732 winning percentage in 2024-25, and it averaged an impressive 207.89 in Baker play. Statistically, the Penguins set new program records for strike percentage, single-pin spare percentage and fill percentage. Cote set new single-season marks for scoring average (21.40), fill frame percentage (88.07), strike percentage (57.77), total frames (849), Baker frame average (21.73) and Baker double percentage (59.04).
In Olesky’s first season, Youngstown State finished third in the country at the national tournament and was ranked third in the final NTCA Poll. The Penguins were ranked third or higher in each of the final four polls of the season, peaked at second in February, and received first-place votes for the first time in program history.
YSU had 10 top-four finishes at tournaments in 2023-24 and captured two wins — the Destination Orlando event and the NCAA Lansing Regional. The regional victory gave YSU its second-ever berth in the Final Four, and the Penguins beat Sam Houston in an elimination match to advance to the final day of the season.
Individually, Cote became the first Penguin to be named a First-Team All-American by the NTCA. Marx and Moore were both named Second-Team All-Americans, and that trio combined to win five individual titles at tournaments during the season.
The Penguins finished the season with an overall record of 80-36 for a .690 winning percentage while bowling against the toughest schedule in the country.
Olesky bowled at YSU in the program’s first two seasons as an intercollegiate program in 2016-17 and 2017-18. As a senior, she earned NTCA All-Academic honors and averaged 191.44 over 16 team games. She bowled the highest game by a Penguin in 2017-18 with a 246, and she topped 200 in five of those 16 games. Before coming to YSU, Olesky bowled on Ohio State's club team for one season.
Olesky earned 10 varsity letters in bowling, softball, volleyball and cheerleading at nearby Girard High School. She was named the conference player of the year and First-Team All-Trumbull County in bowling, and she served as class president.
Olesky is a two-time graduate of Youngstown State University. She earned her bachelor's in political science in 2018 and her master's degree in counseling in 2023.
