The Sun Belt Conference’s preseason coaches picked Western (1-2) to finish third in the league this season, but that doesn’t bother the team much.

The Lady Toppers were also expected to finish third in 2008, when they won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row.

“We were all smiling when coach told us the news,” senior setter Brittany Bowen said. “It is all the more motivation to show everybody we are as good as last year.”

Western lost three players from last year’s team to graduation, including two all-Americans in middle hitter Megan Argabright and setter Julia Noe, causing head coach Travis Hudson to use four first-time starters in the first three matches of the year.

“Certainly we aren’t sticking our head in the sand in saying we don’t have some big shoes to fill, but I really like the makeup of this year,” Hudson said.

Hudson said one of the team’s strengths is its depth, but the Lady Toppers may struggle due to inexperience.

“When we put the pieces together and our young players that have to step in get comfortable playing, we will be very good,” he said.

Western brings in a recruiting class, ranked in the top 50 by PrepVolleyball.com, that Hudson hopes will bolster the team.

“The best way to capitalize on success is through recruiting, to continue bring in quality players, and we have certainly done that,” Hudson said.

One of those recruits is freshman libero Sarah Rogers, who leads the Lady Toppers in digs with 47 after only three matches. Rogers was named to the all-tournament team at the season-opening Tennessee Tournament, where Western lost to Lipscomb (23-25, 17-25, 25-27) and Tennessee (25-18, 16-25, 22-25, 25-23, 12-15) on Saturday but defeated Tennessee Tech (25-19, 25-19, 25-18) on Sunday morning.

Rogers said she thinks the team has a lot of potential despite losing the first two matches of the season.

“We have extremely high energy and I feel we are going to be a tough team to beat once we get it going,” she said.

Hudson said the hardest part this year will be to “wipe the slate clean” from last year’s team, which advanced to the NCAA tournament but fell to Cincinnati in the first round.

Bowen said she knows returning to the NCAA tournament for a third straight year will be a challenge, but she thinks the team is ready.

“People are stepping up,” she said. “We know we have large shoes to fill, but we will be fine.”

The Lady Toppers hope to even their record when they travel to Nashville today to play Belmont at 6:30 p.m.