Travis Hudson has seen his team mobbed on the court eight times after winning conference tournament championships. Only one of those postgame pileups has occurred at E.A. Diddle Arena – back in 2012, when Western Kentucky won the Sun Belt Conference Tournament title.

“When you dog-pile on the road and it’s just you and your team, that’s a great feeling,” the Lady Toppers’ longtime coach Hudson said Monday. “But when you dog-pile at home and the stands are filled with people waving the red towel, that’s a pretty special opportunity our kids are able to take advantage of.”

WKU will aim for that Sunday dog-pile this week when it hosts the 2017 Conference USA Tournament.

The host and No. 2 seed Lady Toppers (27-3 overall, 13-1 C-USA) will get the tourney started at noon Friday when they host No. 7 seed Charlotte (19-11, 6-8) at Diddle Arena.

Beat the 49ers, and a 1:30 p.m. semifinal awaits Saturday against either No. 3 seed Rice (21-7, 11-3) or No. 6 seed Southern Mississippi (19-11, 9-5).

The championship match is set for noon Sunday, with No. 1 seed North Texas (26-2, 13-1), No. 8 seed Marshall (11-18, 6-8), No. 4 seed Texas-San Antonio (11-15, 9-5) and No. 5 seed Florida Atlantic (18-8, 9-5) waiting in the bottom half of the bracket.

“You don’t win this tournament all at once,” Hudson said. “You win it point-by-point and set-by-set.

“We just take this week and try to be locked in on doing our job and understanding if we go out and do what we’re trained to do, that we’re going to have an opportunity to be successful.”

The Lady Toppers will play this weekend on a court where they almost always win. WKU has not lost a match at home this season, sitting at 12-0, and has won its last 52 matches at home against conference foes, dating back to the 2011 campaign.

The Lady Toppers dropped a home set just once in a C-USA match this season, when they beat Marshall 3-1 on Oct. 27. WKU swept its other six home matches in league play.

“Playing in our own gym, I know all of us are that much more excited to be going into the tournament,” Lady Tops senior Sydney Engle said. “This is what we work all year for. I definitely think the timing is right, that we’re moving in the whole direction and that we’re ready as a whole team.”

Hosting the C-USA Tournament as opposed to going on the road brings some extra distractions, Hudson said.

Hudson and his staff are helping deal with the logistical side of the tournament, while players are finding tickets for family members and friends coming in to watch.

“If I’m being honest as a coach, up until the moment we start playing I’d rather it be on the road, just because of all the other things that go on around it we’ll have to deal with that we normally wouldn’t,” Hudson said. “But once that whistle blows to start the tournament, there’s no place like Diddle Arena.”

WKU goes into the weekend as one of the tournament favorites. The Lady Toppers have won all three C-USA Tournament championships since joining the league in 2014, capping off last year’s title with a 3-2 win at Rice.

WKU won its first 13 conference matches this fall behind the strength of All-C-USA performers Engle, Rachel Anderson, Alyssa Cavanaugh and Jessica Lucas. The win streak finally came to an end Nov. 9 with a 3-2 loss at North Texas.

The Lady Toppers’ defeat by the Mean Green gave UNT the top seed in this weekend’s C-USA tourney. Hudson liked the way his team played in that loss, even with the outcome.

WKU goes into its match Friday against Charlotte leading the league in hitting percentage during C-USA matches (.349) and ranking second in opponent hitting percentage (.175).

“I know that when this tournament gets tight like they always do, our kids are going to respond by fighting,” Hudson said. “If they do that, then I’m good with that moving forward and I think we’ll like the outcome.”{&end}