Photo courtesy of Youngstown State Athletics / Marisa Fontenot. The YSU women's bowling team celebrates by raising the national championship trophy after defeating Jacksonville State on Saturday at Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

What happens in Las Vegas, often stays in Vegas. But not this time.

The Youngstown State women’s bowling team made history over the weekend, bringing home a national championship from the “Entertainment Capital of the World.”

The Penguins knocked off No. 1 seed and defending national champion Jacksonville State 4-3 in a best-of-seven Baker match on Saturday at Suncoast Bowling Center to secure the program’s first national championship, and the school’s first national title in any women’s sport.

“Just really proud and grateful, and it’s starting to sink in for the ladies. Just a complete team effort, and I’m really happy that we can all experience this together,” head coach Doug Kuberski told the Tribune Chronicle and Vindicator by phone after the match.

“It means a great deal to us. We’re so honored to be part of this (athletic) department with (athletic director) Ron Strollo, president (Bill) Johnson and everybody that’s part of the athletic department. We get so much empowerment across campus, and they put a lot of trust in us. They empower us with whatever we need to compete at the highest level. Just really grateful to finish the job for everybody.”

YSU came into the Final Four as the tournament’s No. 3 seed after winning the Rochester Regional last week.

The Penguins opened the weekend by knocking off No. 2 seed Nebraska 2-0 in their first mega match on Friday. Then YSU went toe-to-toe with Jacksonville State in the winner’s bracket, but fell 2-1 to the Gamecocks.

“We understood that we bowled very well against them (Friday). I thought both teams bowled well, and it could have gone either way,” Kuberski said. “We were one shot away from really winning that match, so we felt confident that we could hang with them and make it a match (Saturday) and go the distance.”

That set up a do-or-die rematch with Nebraska in an elimination match for a spot in the championship against Jax State, which the Penguins won comfortably 2-0 on Saturday morning to earn their spot in the national championship for the first time.

“I’ve told everybody, independent of the outcome, we were just honored to be there,” Kuberski said. “We were having a blast, a great time. Just really proud of all these ladies across all these teams for what they’ve done this weekend, just as a fan of bowling.”

After playing in a mega match format for the majority of the tournament, the final was a slightly different setup — a best-of-seven Baker format match.

In the first game, YSU had to come from behind after the Gamecocks built an early lead. Senior and recently named First-Team All-American Jade Cote bowled a turkey in the 10th frame to help secure the first point 204-199.

In the second game, the Penguins closed strong, finishing with five straight strikes, including another turkey from Cote, to take a 2-0 lead 248-210.

“We were just sticking with our process, trying to keep things really as simple, cool and calm as we could,” Kuberski said. “Obviously we had to make quicker moves with it being a shorter format. We got a little bit of a slow start in the first game, but we made some pretty aggressive moves, and thankfully, it worked out.”

JSU finally got on the board in the third game, pulling a point back 258-206 by opening with five straight strikes and ending with a turkey.

YSU retook control of the match in the fourth game, 244-226 to take a commanding 3-1 advantage. But the defending national champions weren’t going to go away quietly.

The Gamecocks bounced back to win the next two games to level the match 3-3 and set up a tiebreaker, winner-take-all seventh game.

Heading into the final game, the Penguins huddled and regrouped, as Kuberski addressed the team.

“We talked about how if somebody told you in August that you had one game for the national championship, you’d take that and you take that with this group,” Kuberski said. “The message was really to stay cool, calm and have fun. That was the theme all week long. Enjoy the moment, and they did that. They trusted the process and we just kind of let the bowling gods take care of the rest.”

In the first five frames, YSU had three strikes and two spares, while Jacksonville State had two strikes, two spares and an 8-and-1 in the third frame that gave the Penguins the opening they needed.

Heading into the final stretch, YSU bowled five strikes and two spares, which included another turkey from Cote in the 10th frame to hold off the Gamecocks 228-203 and clinch the title.

As the team’s anchor, Cote showed her experience, continuously delivering in clutch circumstances throughout the match.

“I tell her dad all the time, and I tell all their parents just how special these ladies are, not just as bowlers, but as people,” Kuberski said. “(Cote’s) grown so much, and they’ve all grown. Just to see her from where she came her freshman year to now, just matured on and off the lanes. She’s taught me so much, as the rest of them have, about life. They’re successful in the lanes, and they’re going to be successful in life. Her chant is ‘ice, ice baby.’ She’s ice, she’s as cool as they come.”

Photo courtesy of Youngstown State Athletics / Marisa Fontenot. The Youngstown State bowling team poses with the championship trophy after winning the national title on Saturday at Suncoast Bowling Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the final, the Penguins bowled four of the team’s six seniors. Since Kuberski took over the program seven years ago, that senior class has been largely responsible for helping turn YSU into one of the country’s elite bowling programs that competes at the highest level on an annual basis.

Graduate students Madyson Marx and Kirsten Moore were part of the Penguins’ first Final Four team in 2021, while Marx, Moore and the other seniors — Cote, Madison Doesck, Ellie Drescher and Lyndsay Ennis — have led the team to back-to-back Final Fours.

Now they’re all going out on top as national champions.

“I think what they’ve done to the program and the culture, just taking it, elevating it and growing it, has been incredible,” Kuberski said. “The culture they’ve built has attracted amazing people as well, from junior Hannah Miller to sophomore Amanda Granata and freshman Kara Beissel and the six freshmen we have coming in. I think all of them wouldn’t have joined us if it weren’t for the culture. It’s just truly been an honor to coach them and then just get to know them.”