LAS VEGAS — Youngstown State’s bowling team advanced one step further toward its ultimate goal on Friday morning by beating Nebraska 2-0 in the opening round of the National Collegiate Bowling Championship at the Suncoast Bowling Center.
The Penguins dropped the winner’s bracket final 2-1 to Jacksonville State on Friday afternoon, which creates a rematch with the Huskers on Saturday for a spot in the national championship match. Saturday’s contest will be at noon Eastern, and the winner will take on Jacksonville State in a best-of-seven contest for the title on ESPNU and ESPN+.
Against Nebraska in the morning round, the Penguins had four bowlers break 200 in the traditional point as they won 1,021-973 to take a 1-0 lead in the match, and they jumped out to a huge lead after three games in the Baker point on their way to a 1,116-1,006 victory.
Against the Huskers, Youngstown State had sizeable advantages in the leadoff and fourth spots in the lineup in the 48-pin victory in the traditional point. Madison Doseck threw the front four and finished with nine strikes in her 224 game in the leadoff slot, and Madyson Marx was clean after a split in the third frame in a 223. YSU had a 106-pin edge from those two bowlers, and Amanda Granata, Kiesten Moore and Jade Coté did more than enough to protect that advantage. Also on the team is Perry High School graduate Hannah Miller.
The Penguins remained hot in the Baker round, and they had a 732-554 advantage after three games. YSU started with a 256 to immediately keep the momentum, and it separated more from the Huskers after throwing the back eight of game three for a 267. YSU followed with a 200, and it worked in its entire lineup in game five after securing the victory.
The Gamecocks rallied to top Wichita State 2-1 in the mega match by beating the Shockers in the traditional point and 4-3 in the best-of-seven Baker, and they were able to outlast the Penguins in another mega match for a 2-1 victory.
The first two points were decided by a total of 10 pins, and Youngstown State built momentum in the traditional point despite losing 1,051-1,045. The Penguins had four opens in the first two frames and didn’t have a clean frame until the sixth as they fell behind by nearly 100 pins to the tournament’s top seed. YSU started to string strikes together and cut the deficit in half heading into the final frame, and the match came down to the anchors.
Jacksonville State’s Danielle Henderson had the hot hand the entire match, and she polished off a 244 to help the Gamecocks take the 1-0 lead in the match. Doseck led the Penguins with a 245, Marx shot 224, and Granata fired a 202.
In the Baker point, Youngstown State averaged 240.75 over its first four games and outscored Jax State by 89 pins in the middle three games to hold a 78-pin advantage. That lead was bolstered by a 279 in game three as the Penguins struck on their final 10 attempts. Jacksonville State shot 238 in game five and put pressure on Cote to mark in the 10th to extend the match, and YSU’s anchor picked up a spare and added a strike for a high-scoring 1,127-1,123 win.
The best-of-seven round had four games decided by 12 pins or fewer, and the Gamecocks won three of those four tight ones. Jax State won 220-213 in the opener, and YSU’s lone win came in game two 223-220. The Gamecocks’ biggest edge was 222-195 in game three, and they took the next two games 213-201 and 212-201.
JAX STATE VS. WICHITA
Jax State dropped the first portion of their first Mega Match at the 2025 National Collegiate Bowling Championship at the Suncoast Bowling Center, but rallied to win the Mega Match 2-1 to secure a spot in the semifinals at 5 p.m. Central against Youngstown State.
Wichita State won the traditional portion of the match, but the Gamecocks won the five game Baker total pinfall portion and the Baker best-of-seven to come away with the win.
Wichita State took a 1-0 lead in the Mega Match format over Jax State with a 1,052-1,018 win in traditional play. Annalise OBryant led Jax State with a 226 and was followed by Klemencic’s 214. OBryant rolled six consecutive strikes to close out the match. Klemencic had four strikes in her first five frames. Dannielle Henderson added 198, followed by 191 from Triway High School graduate Emma Yoder and 189 from Anna Warkel.
“We brought everybody together and just said, it’s just 1-0 now, and these matches are just so long, and they’re made for that,” said Warkel of the time between traditional and Baker play. “Instead of looking at it like, we’re behind, we just have to stay ahead of the process.”
The Gamecocks eked out a 199-192 edge in the first of five Baker games in the second stage of the match, highlighted by a strike from Klemencic in the eighth to take advantage of an open frame by the Shockers. The lead grew by 11 after a 223-212 win in the second after starting the match with four consecutive strikes and getting three more in the 10th from Henderson.
WSU started the third game strong and whittled the Jax State lead to six in the sixth but the Gamecocks finished strong for a 215-182 advantage. A 30-pin victory in the fourth took the Gamecock advantage down to 21 heading to the final Baker game as the Shockers won 235-205. Jax State responded with seven-straight strikes in the fifth for a 232-212 win for a 1,074-1,033 overall total to force the best-of-seven series.
“I don’t think there’s a particular shot that made a difference or changed momentum,” said coach Shannon O’Keefe. “I think it was the short-term memory of the bad ones; letting the bad ones go quickly and just going back to work.”
The Shockers won the first game of the series 231-216, closing strong after the match was tied at 157 through seven frames. The Gamecocks answered back in a big way with a 266-177 win after WSU left three frames open and Jax State started with four straight strikes and had a streak of five in a row at the end of the match.
When WSU went back to the right lane, they came through with a 255-223 win to regain the lead. Jax State was able to even the match after four with a 229-214 win after a double in the ninth after picking up four single-pin spares in the first seven frames.
The Shockers came within a game of clinching a spot in the semis after a 201-189 win in the fifth game.
Jax State took the sixth 233-171 after the Shockers left three frames open, then clinched the match in the seventh game with a 233-171 win after recording five consecutive strikes in the eighth through 10th frames.
NEBRAKA 1-1
Nebraska went 1-1 on its first day of competition, advancing to a match to go to the national championship.
The Huskers started with a round one matchup against three-seeded Youngstown State, having gone 6-3 against the Penguins in the regular season. The Big Red started the traditional match with Smithville’s Brenna Hartzler, Stow’s Jillian Martin, Anna Callan, Kayla Verstraete and Kayla Starr. Callan (215) and Martin (215) led the way for the Cornhuskers, striking seven and six times respectively. Verstraete tallied seven strikes and rolled a 202 for Nebraska. Hartzler started the match off with three straight strikes, and scored a 175. Starr rounded out the Husker lineup with a 166 as Nebraska fell to the Penguins, 1,021-973, as Youngstown State took the first point of the mega-match.
Youngstown State came out hot with eight-consecutive strikes to end the first game of the total-pinfall baker five match, topping the Huskers, 259-189. In Game 2, Nebraska substituted Haley Swindle for Hartzler as the team bowled a 178 to the Penguins 206. Youngstown State again ended the third game with eight strikes, bowling a 267 to take a 732-554 total-pin lead in the match. Desiree Buchert was brought in for Starr in the fourth as NU rolled a 220 behind four strikes to start, topping Youngstown State’s 200. Behind 158 pins, Nebraska bowled a 232 over Youngstown State’s 184 in game five, but it wasn’t enough to take a mega-match point as the Penguins won 1,116-1,006, taking the mega-match, 2-0.
In round two, the Big Red matched up with Wichita State in the losers bracket, a familiar foe for the Huskers, having met them nine times in the season, winning seven. The Huskers started with the same lineup they ended with against Youngstown State, Verstraete leading the way with a 243. Swindle bowled a clean 230, followed by Martin with a 209. Buchert added a 193 and Callan scored a 175 as the Huskers outstruck the Shockers, 32-21, and took the traditional match, 1,050-985.
NU opened the first game of the total-pinfall baker five match with nine strikes and a 256. The Shockers brought it back in the second, scoring a 236 over the Huskers’ 205. In game three, the Big Red tallied five consecutive strikes, scoring a 245 to take a 83-pin advantage in the match. Wichita State would outscore the Huskers in game four, 210-174, and in game five, 215-208, but it wouldn’t be enough as the Cornhuskers hung on, 1,088-1,048.
SHOCKERS ARE DONE
Wichita State’s first season of NCAA eligibility ended Friday.
The Shockers came into the Final Four as the No. 4 seed. On Friday, they lost to No. 1 Jacksonville State, who they beat twice in a row to win the Conference USA Championshp two weeks ago, and No. 2 Nebraska.
The Final Four was a double-elimination, best-of-three Mega Match format.
With the two losses ending WSU’s season, the team finished 87-38 overall.
The Shockers lost a match for the first time since the opening round of the CUSA tournament against Jacksonville State. The teams went to a best-of-seven tiebreaker and WSU ultimately fell to the Gamecocks, 2-1.