Quick Guide to Youngstown State Bowling and the 2025 Final Four in Las Vegas
Youngstown State’s bowling team is in the semifinals of the National Collegiate Women’s Bowling Championship for the second straight year and the third time in the last five years.
The is a guide for fans who need a quick introduction to college bowling and the Penguins as they get ready to head to Las Vegas this week for the Final Four.
Final Four Preview
What: Youngstown State is one of the last four teams in contention for the NCAA National Championship in bowling. YSU emerged from a five-team regional in Rochester, N.Y. last weekend at Bowl-A-Roll in a field that included Saint Vincent, Marian, Louisiana Tech and North Carolina A&T. As the top seed in the region and the third overall seed in the national bracket, Youngstown State beat Marian in its first match, then had three straight matches with North Carolina A&T in which the Penguins and Aggies took turns delivering punches. YSU won the first mega match 2-1 on Friday to advance to the regional final, and North Carolina A&T flipped the script on Saturday with a 2-1 win on Saturday. With each team having one loss in the double-elimination bracket, it created a winner-take-all, best-of-seven Baker scenario, which Youngstown State won 4-0. Youngstown State’s first appearance in the national semifinals was in 2021 in North Kansas City, Mo., and the Penguins were in the Final Four again last season in Allen Park, Mich.
Who: The top four seeds in the national bracket each won their respective regions to advance to the Final Four this weekend. The top seed is Jacksonville State, which is the defending national champion and the only other team in addition to YSU that has been to the Final Four in each of the last two seasons. The Gamecocks will meet No. 4 Wichita State in the opening round, while YSU will bowl against No. 2 Nebraska. Jacksonville State, Wichita State and YSU are each members of Conference USA.
When: YSU will compete against Nebraska at noon Eastern on Friday, and the Penguins will bowl again at 6 p.m. Eastern in the double-elimination bracket. If the Penguins win both of those matches on Friday, they will bowl for the National Championship on ESPNU on Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern. If YSU splits the two matches on Friday, it will bowl an elimination match on Saturday at noon Eastern for a chance to bowl in the title match later that evening.
Where: The Final Four will be contested at the Suncoast Bowling Center at the Suncoast Hostel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.
How to follow: The first three rounds of the Final Four will be streamed live through links on NCAA.com. The National Championship match will be at 9 p.m. on Saturday, and it will be broadcast live on ESPNU. Updates will be posted on the team’s social media channels: Facebook | Instagram | X
Tournament Links
YSU Bowling Links
Explaining College Bowling Scoring and the Mega Match
Conference events and NCAA Tournament contests until the National Championship match are determined by the mega-match format. A mega match encompasses three different rounds or points, and a team must get to two points to win the match. The championship final will be just a best-of-seven contest.
- The first round is the traditional format, which is most like what fans would be accustomed to as “standard” scoring in a house league or evening out with friends. Each team in the match has five players bowl a full game, and each individual’s total score is added together for the team total. Whichever team has the highest score from all five individual games wins the point and leads the mega-match 1-0.
- The second round of the mega-match is the Baker total pinfall portion, which consists of five games. The winner is determined by adding the pinfall of all five games together. In the Baker format, lineups are comprised of five bowlers with each being responsible for two frames in each game. The leadoff player bowls in frames one and six, the second person in the lineup bowls in frames two and seven, etc. If the team that wins the traditional round also wins the Baker pinfall round, it wins the match 2-0. If the team that lost the traditional round wins the Baker point, the mega-match is tied 1-1 and goes to a best-of-seven Baker match play format.
- In the best-of-seven tiebreaker format, instead of adding five games together to determine a total, all that matters is the score each game. Winning 300-175 of 176-175 has the same weight. The first team to four games wins the point and wins the mega-match 2-1.