Early volleyball stars reflect on place in program history
Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2021 11:09 amFrom SMUMustangs.com:
Two-Plus Decades These Mustangs Are Still Queens Of The Hilltop
By Alex Riley
Special to SMUMustangs.com
DALLAS – Like a lost treasure, Leslie Madison smiled when she finally found the VHS tape.
Olsen, an SMU volleyball alum from the program's inaugural signing class, wanted to show her daughters, now volleyball players themselves, what the game looked like back when she stood between the lines.
The grainy footage showed the sport from the late 1990s. Rally scoring wouldn't come into effect until 2000, meaning only the team serving could score. Sets were played to 15, not 25 like they are now.
"They were like, 'This is the longest game ever,'" Madison, then Leslie Olson, joked. "It's just so different. The game is so different."
A lot has changed in 25 years for the Dallas program. But there are some things that haven't.
Signed as freshmen in 1996, Madison and teammate Erin Pryor still hold several pre-rally scoring distinctions throughout SMU's career record book all these years later. In seven career categories, either Madison or Pryor find themselves ranked among the top two in terms of career totals.
Madison left SMU with 4,862 career assists after being the team's primary setter for all four years. It took more than a decade for another Mustang to even clear 4,000 career assists. Avery Acker came to resetting the mark from 2012-15 with 4,321.
Pryor calls her accomplishments trivia she utilizes when others want to know a tidbit about her.
"In my career, people ask, 'What's a fun fact about you?,' and I tell them I still hold the all-time kill record at SMU," Pryor said with a laugh.
Pryor left with 1,789 career kills. Honorable mention All-American Dana Powell capped her time in Moody Coliseum with 1,539 from 2008-11, the closest anyone has come.
Not only does Pryor still own the kills mark, she also holds the record for most career points (1,985.5) and is second in kills per game (3.84), attack attempts (4,669), points per game (4.26) and has the second highest total in matches played (129). Of those runner-up marks, only one fell prior to 2007.
Execution certainly had a lot to do with her success, but being part of a start-up program with limited available bodies for the first four years certainly helped.
"At the time, I didn't realize it, but I played every single match. Every single game for four years. And my first few years, I think I got almost every single set," Pryor said.
But after two and a half decades, what does being a program record holder still mean?
The question makes Pryor chuckle before she answers.
"That makes me feel really old."
Two-Plus Decades These Mustangs Are Still Queens Of The Hilltop
By Alex Riley
Special to SMUMustangs.com
DALLAS – Like a lost treasure, Leslie Madison smiled when she finally found the VHS tape.
Olsen, an SMU volleyball alum from the program's inaugural signing class, wanted to show her daughters, now volleyball players themselves, what the game looked like back when she stood between the lines.
The grainy footage showed the sport from the late 1990s. Rally scoring wouldn't come into effect until 2000, meaning only the team serving could score. Sets were played to 15, not 25 like they are now.
"They were like, 'This is the longest game ever,'" Madison, then Leslie Olson, joked. "It's just so different. The game is so different."
A lot has changed in 25 years for the Dallas program. But there are some things that haven't.
Signed as freshmen in 1996, Madison and teammate Erin Pryor still hold several pre-rally scoring distinctions throughout SMU's career record book all these years later. In seven career categories, either Madison or Pryor find themselves ranked among the top two in terms of career totals.
Madison left SMU with 4,862 career assists after being the team's primary setter for all four years. It took more than a decade for another Mustang to even clear 4,000 career assists. Avery Acker came to resetting the mark from 2012-15 with 4,321.
Pryor calls her accomplishments trivia she utilizes when others want to know a tidbit about her.
"In my career, people ask, 'What's a fun fact about you?,' and I tell them I still hold the all-time kill record at SMU," Pryor said with a laugh.
Pryor left with 1,789 career kills. Honorable mention All-American Dana Powell capped her time in Moody Coliseum with 1,539 from 2008-11, the closest anyone has come.
Not only does Pryor still own the kills mark, she also holds the record for most career points (1,985.5) and is second in kills per game (3.84), attack attempts (4,669), points per game (4.26) and has the second highest total in matches played (129). Of those runner-up marks, only one fell prior to 2007.
Execution certainly had a lot to do with her success, but being part of a start-up program with limited available bodies for the first four years certainly helped.
"At the time, I didn't realize it, but I played every single match. Every single game for four years. And my first few years, I think I got almost every single set," Pryor said.
But after two and a half decades, what does being a program record holder still mean?
The question makes Pryor chuckle before she answers.
"That makes me feel really old."