The recipe for obtaining the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament is simple for Western — just win the last two matches of the season.

The Lady Toppers (22-8, 11-4 Sun Belt Conference) won the tournament as a No. 6 seed last season.

“A three seed will put us in a good position to win,” senior outside hitter Abbie Siljendahl said. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves though, because we still have to beat two tough teams this weekend.”

Western will conclude the regular season with matches against Troy and South Alabama this weekend. The Lady Toppers beat both teams two weeks ago, but Head Coach Travis Hudson said “there is a lot of reason for concern” when facing them again.

“Both games are going to be considered trap games,” Hudson said. “Troy has to win the game to make the tournament, and it will be South Alabama’s senior day.”

Sophomore middle hitter Tiffany Elmore said the team won’t have trouble concentrating on this weekend’s matches despite the conference tournament being a week away.

“We will definitely be focused,” Elmore said. “We bring the same focus every game of the year, no matter what the stakes are.”

Hudson said the team is still practicing hard, but he’s confident in the level of play and hasn’t made major adjustments to any particular drills during practice.

“We are just brushing stuff up right now,” Hudson said. “I’m pretty comfortable with where we are at now.”

Elmore said the Lady Toppers are just “getting stuff together” and trying to have as much fun as possible before the tournament, scheduled for Nov. 19 through 21 at Diddle Arena.

Hudson compared this year’s team to last season’s team. The 2008 Lady Toppers won their last nine regular season matches before sweeping the conference tournament.

“Both teams have played really well down the stretch, but I have even been encouraged by this year’s losses, which were all to great teams,” Hudson said.

Siljendahl said the team is different when it comes to the roster but similar in its style of play.

“We have the same stage of competitiveness, passion and determination whenever we step on the court,” Siljendahl said.

The Lady Toppers have had a bumpy route on their way to the tournament, but Hudson said the journey is what makes the team special.

“Certain years the team is put to a test, but this year the whole program was,” Hudson said. “We had star players graduate, star players get hurt, but everybody stepped in to make plays.”

Though they have lost all four of their matches to Middle Tennessee and Florida International this season, Hudson said the Lady Toppers have closed the gap.

FIU and MTSU have already clinched the No. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively. The only way Western would lose the No. 3 seed would be if the team lost both matches and Denver won both of its matches at Arkansas-Little Rock and Arkansas State this weekend.

Western will travel to face Troy at 7 p.m. on Friday and South Alabama at 3 p.m on Saturday.