ELSAH, IL – Congratulations to Principia College alums, Mary Ann Sprague-Denison (C'84) and Paige (Cooley) Webster (C'19), on their selection to the 2025 SLIAC Hall of Fame class!
Mary Ann is the winningest volleyball coach in Principia history and had an incredible 21-year career that included five SLIAC Coach of the Year awards (2003, 2006, 2011, 2017, 2018) and one SLIAC Championship (2006). She coached the two best attacking players in conference history (Christina Speer and Tess Rountree), both of whom went on to play professionally overseas. Her athletes earned All-Conference honors 51 times (18 First Team), won 49 SLIAC Players of the Week, and her team won the SLIAC Sportsmanship Team Award 7 times. Mary Ann's career record is 332-291, and she was 185-144 in SLIAC play.
Mary Ann was loved by all of her many athletes, and her amazing passion for volleyball was contagious. She served on countless committees, not just at Principia, but in the SLIAC and at the NCAA regional level as well. She even helped start a beach volleyball program at Principia. Mary Ann was awarded the Lee McKinney SLIAC Distinguished Service Award in 2020.
Paige was one of the top women's tennis players in SLIAC history. She won SLIAC Player of the Year and led the Principia women to a SLIAC championship in all three seasons that she competed (also winning Newcomer of the Year as a freshman). She never lost a singles or doubles conference match in her career and was named First Team All-Conference at #1 singles and #1 doubles all three years.
Paige started off her collegiate singles career on fire as she went a remarkable 21-1 her freshman year (2016) to tie a program record for singles winning percentage in a season. During her sophomore season (2017), she achieved ITA rankings as high as #9 in the Central Region and #35 nationally. After taking her junior season off to focus on a busy academic schedule, Paige returned her senior year (2019) and helped lead the Panthers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years. She was a dominant force in her conference singles matches, overpowering her opponents and rarely losing any games. Paige even won one match without losing a single point the entire match.
By the end of her career, Paige finished with a 53-12 singles record and 38-27 doubles record. Her singles win percentage of .815 ranks second all-time in program history, only behind six-time NCAA champion, Courtney Allen. Paige also excelled academically and was named both SLIAC All-Academic and an ITA Scholar Athlete and in each of her seasons. At the end of her senior year in 2019, the conference chose Paige as its NCAA Woman of the Year nominee.
