Whenever the Lady Toppers have broken from a huddle this season, they’ve yelled “back-to-back.” This week, they finally have the chance to make the dream of back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Tournament titles a reality.

“We know we can do it,” Head Coach Travis Hudson said. “We just have to show everyone else we can — again.”

The players said securing consecutive Sun Belt championships will be especially important for the seniors on the team: defensive specialist Lindsey Gould, middle hitter Brittany Bowen, outside hitter Abbie Siljendahl and injured outside hitter Aquila Orr.

“It would just be the icing on the cake,” Gould said. “It would make these four years extra special.”

Junior outside hitter Emily Teegarden said it’s now the underclassmen’s role to finish what they started and win for the seniors this weekend.

“They have played a large part all year, and they deserve to go out as winners,” Teegarden said.

But Hudson said the senior class has already left a winning legacy. The four seniors have been a part of a Sun Belt East Division Championship in 2006, a Sun Belt tournament title in 2008, and NCAA tournament appearances in the past two seasons.

“They are some of the four best players I have coached who all brought something different to the table,” Hudson said. “They will be extremely missed from this program.”

The senior class established leadership early in their playing careers, Teegarden said.

“They were great friends and leaders to me,” she said. “They have been helping me out since I got here.”

The Sun Belt tournament begins for the No. 3-seed Lady Toppers (24-8, 13-4 SBC) at 5 p.m. on Thursday, when they face No. 6-seed Denver in Diddle Arena.

The players are thrilled with the chance to knock out Denver in the tournament for the fourth year in a row, Gould said.

The Lady Toppers defeated Denver in the second round in the past two seasons and in the first in 2006. They also beat the Lady Pioneers (16-16, 11-7 Sun Belt) in three sets on Oct. 16 in Bowling Green.

“We thought we were going to have to play Arkansas State, so we were very happy when we heard we got Denver,” Gould said. “They will have a revenge factor though, since we have been knocking them out in the tournament a lot lately.”

Many Lady Toppers said that consistency will be the biggest obstacle they’ll have to overcome this weekend.

“We know we can be consistent, but now we have to do it for three straight matches,” Teegarden said.

Since the tournament is held in Diddle Arena this season, the Lady Toppers say they will have an extra advantage.

“Our home crowd has been great all year, and it would mean a lot for us to win it here,” Hudson said.

Westen has only lost twice at home all year, to Florida International and Middle Tennessee State, two teams the Lady Toppers have a good chance of facing in the late rounds of the tournament.