Youngstown State bowling hosting Penguin Classic
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STRUTHERS -- Bowling is one of those sports that involves plenty of miles logged over the road. Home events are a rarity, so when a team has an opportunity to bowl in their own lanes, it's a special experience.
Youngstown State is entering its seventh season of competition and only just the fourth time will host a tournament at Holiday Bowl in Struthers. It's the only time all season that the Penguins will compete at home, and starting off the 2023-2024 campaign on their home turf is something YSU is looking forward to.
"It's a lot of fun to host and to be the first tournament for us and a lot of the teams coming here. It's a great honor and a lot of work to do to put on a good show. We have a great staff at YSU and Holiday Bowl to help out," YSU coach Doug Kuberski said. "These teams are all really good, and you can look historically at other places, the home team doesn't really have a home advantage, but there is a level of comfort here for sure."
"When we first had our first event here four years ago, you can just tell how much it meant to the team and the department, the community, so it's a lot of fun. It means a lot to a lot of people, it's fun to see how the tournament has grown."
The YSU Penguin Classic takes place over a three-day stretch this weekend and includes the likes of third-ranked Nebraska and C-USA rivals second-ranked Arkansas State and Valparaiso. Originally taking place several years ago with eight teams, the event has grown to 13. The round-robin tournament allows each team to see each other at least once.
"It's nearly doubled in four years and we typically get everyone back, it's rare to see, but everybody comes back every year, which is a testament how great the staff is," Kuberski said. "It's very difficult. There's a lot of good tournaments out there and people have set schedules over the years, so to really get them to take a chance on you and rearrange some things at first was challenging. At first we had seven great teams join us that first year, and they really helped us get us going."
Hope Bunk, a sophmore, appreciates the opportunity to bowl at her own facility, especially as one of the nine bowlers returning from last season.
"It's really exciting because compared to last year, I didn't know what I was getting into and now I know what it's going to be like, I'm ready to just get hyped up and have fun with my team," Bunk said. "Being here competing against the top of the top is great. Seeing all the different range of bowlers on their teams, we get to see how they're doing and what they're doing and we get to prepare for what they have in store and show them what we got.
"Having most of our team come back is pretty great because we all know each other and having one addition makes it even better because more love to share. I feel like we can win this because our team's bond since last year, we've just gotten so much stronger and I feel like your bond is what makes your team bowl better because you love each other and want to do great things, so I don't think it's going to be hard to accomplish great things."
Entering the season sixth in the National Tenpin Coaches Association Top 25 poll, YSU has their highest-ever preseason ranking, with seven out of the top ten spots being earned by C-USA squads. Fifth-year senior Megan Grams returns, along with Honorable Mention All-Americans Kirsten Moore and Madyson Marx.
Freshman Amanda Granata is one the lone new-face on the Penguins roster.
"This is really amazing, I'm really excited. I've come the past two years to watch the event when I was interested in the team and it's really cool because the girls did really great last year and now I get to experience it with them," Granata said. "This is the only place I've been bowling over the past month, so it's really comfortable to be comfortable across the house and know which lanes I like better than others.
"You'll know which lanes sometimes give you trouble when you put down a certain pattern, so it's nice to have that idea going into the tournament."
Five Baker matches started at 9:35 a.m. Friday. Action carries throughout the weekend into Sunday afternoon.
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