It’s rare for a veteran coach to be undefeated against a conference foe.

But Head Coach Travis Hudson is a combined 30-0 against Sun Belt Conference opponents South Alabama and Troy in his 15 years coaching at Western.

“I think it has a lot to do with having great players and better talent,” Hudson said.

Western (21-7, 10-3 Sun Belt) defeated South Alabama (25-16, 25-11, 25-12) on Saturday and Troy (25-15, 25-12, 25-13) on Friday.

The Lady Toppers have only dropped one set total against the teams during senior middle hitter Brittany Bowen’s time at Western.

“It just shows we get mentally prepared when we play them,” Bowen said.

The Lady Toppers have consistently taken care of the teams in the bottom of the conference. Troy ranks fourth in the Sun Belt’s East Division with a 6-8 conference record, while South Alabama is in last place at 2-12.

“It couldn’t be more important to get wins over these teams,” Bowen said. “We can’t drop these because it will just mess up what we have already accomplished.”

The Lady Toppers play the teams in their last two games of the season, facing Troy on Nov. 13 and South Alabama on Nov. 14.

“Those are the games that will matter the most, because those might determine tournament seeding for us,” Hudson said.

Freshman libero Sarah Rogers said the Lady Toppers know their team is better than the teams in the bottom of the conference, but it’s their job to prove it.

Western has not dropped a set in four of its last five matches, and Hudson said the team is right where he hoped it would be near the end of the season.

“I definitely feel like we are putting things together,” he said. “As a coach, you just love to see the 3-0 matches.”

Rogers said the shutout matches bring the team’s morale up.

“It makes it so much easier on us and Coach whenever we get the job done in three sets,” she said.

Hudson said his team’s improved play is in large part because of the increased playing time of the young players on the team.

“We are more relaxed, and that comes with experience,” Hudson said. “When you aren’t coming from behind in games, it takes a big load off.”

Bowen said the team’s success allows them to “have a lot of fun” during matches, which has been a factor in improving their results as well.

“We play better when we are having fun and being relaxed,” Bowen said.

The Lady Toppers are third overall in the conference, two games behind second-place Middle Tennessee State, with four matches left in the season.

“Seeding is important, but I am confident in our team no matter what our seed for the tournament is,” Hudson said.

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.