Apr 24, 2025
Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes Doug Kuberski, head coach of the Youngstown State women’s bowling team, runs out with the national championship trophy during introductions at the Penguins celebration on Wednesday at Beeghly Center in Youngstown.
YOUNGSTOWN — In the immediate aftermath of Youngstown State’s women’s bowling team’s national championship victory over Jacksonville State in Las Vegas on April 12, head coach Doug Kuberski said the Penguins’ accomplishment hadn’t quite set in yet.
In the 12 days since the Penguins made school history, winning the program’s first national championship and the school’s first national championship in a women’s sport, safe to say, it’s finally starting to set in for Kuberski and the Penguins.
“Every day is like a few more percentage points of realness,” Kuberski said. “It’s definitely getting to that tipping point where it feels real. The day after we won, I woke up and the (match) was on ESPN2 replaying, and I was like OK, it did happen.’ Every day, you kind of relive it, and it gets more real.”
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for the Penguins.
One month ago, YSU wrapped up a long, grueling regular season with a pair of losses to bow out of the Conference USA Championship.
Since then, the Penguins went through the NCAA Selection Show, earned the No. 3 overall seed, won the Rochester Regional, earned their second straight Final Four berth, won the national title and celebrated their historic accomplishment.
The celebratory aftermath culminated on Wednesday, as YSU honored its conquering champions with an event to recognize and celebrate their title with fans, students, athletes, alumni and donors in the Zidian Family Arena at the Beeghly Center.
“It’s definitely been different. We’ve never had this level of attention before, but it’s been such a cool experience,” grad student Kirsten Moore said. “I have people coming up to me in the hallways that I’ve never met before and they’re saying congratulations, which is so cool and it just means so much to us that so many people are recognizing what we achieved. I love sharing things about the team and just doing all this stuff. It’s kind of crazy, but it’s so fun.”
During the celebration, university president Bill Johnson, Ohio State Senator Al Cutrona (33rd district), Ohio State Representative Lauren McNally (58th district) and Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown each delivered remarks, while Cutrona and McNally bestowed Kuberski with commendations honoring the team and Brown presented the team with a key to the city.
After getting back to the Final Four for the second straight season and the third time in five years and scaling to the top of the sport with a national championship, YSU’s six seniors, including Moore, Jade Cote, Madyson Marx, Ellie Drescher, Madison Doesck and Lyndsay Ennis, leave behind a decorated legacy.
“They handled all the adversity, all the setbacks and kept trusting the process, trusting the program, trusting each other and believing because it wasn’t an easy process,” Kuberski said. “We had some ups and downs and some battles, but I think that legacy, like they said, that ‘Youngstown grit’ — it’s just a legacy of keeping at it and good things will happen.”
Now that their college careers are over, YSU’s seniors hope that the three returning underclassmen — rising senior Hannah Miller, junior Amanda Granata and sophomore Kara Beissel — and six incoming freshmen can continue to build off what they’ve accomplished.
“I feel like the big thing to acknowledge would be that we’re all a family,” Doseck said. “At the end of the day, all of the girls behind you are going to support you whether you miss your spare, you miss your shot, you do something you don’t like, whatever, you’re human and everybody behind you understands that, even coach. So I think it’s really important to understand that it’s OK to mess up sometimes, but this is a family and we all still love you.”
The offseason has only just begun, but Kuberski has already been hard at work to begin preparing for next year and the arrival of the Penguins’ new freshman class.
“I think not only their talent in the lanes but their personalities will fit very well with our culture and our program,” Kuberski said. “I can see them developing a new identity as a group next year and maybe getting back — we’re definitely going to do our darnedest.”
Going forward, YSU wants to continue to maintain this level of success.
So not only will those six newcomers have big shoes to step into next season, but they also will have bigger expectations as well with the Penguins being defending champions.
“There’s the realization that this is real, we won, but also, we want to do this again,” Kuberski said. “We want to get back here and put ourselves in position next April because it’s going to be in Cleveland, and we’d love to get there and make a run. … So we’re hungrier than ever. We’re definitely not going to rest and grow complacent.”
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