Western Kentucky has enjoyed one of the best seasons in program history, rolling to a 30-2 record and Conference USA volleyball regular-season and tourney titles.

Now that the 20th-ranked Lady Toppers are into the NCAA Tournament, they want to stay loose and keep playing the way they have all year.

“At this point if we lose, that’s the end of our season, but we also have nothing to lose,” defensive specialist Georgia O’Connell said this week at practice. “We can go out, play as hard as we want.

“There’s stuff to prove but we have nothing to lose, no pressure. I think that’s when this team plays best.”

WKU begins its NCAA Tournament at 6:30 p.m. CST on Friday with a first-round matchup against Mountain West Conference champ Boise State. The Lady Toppers and Broncos are meeting at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif., in a match that’ll be streamed for free at pac-12.com.

Regional host and No. 6 overall seed Stanford, which plays Denver on Friday night, likely awaits either WKU or Boise State in the second round Saturday night.

“We have nothing to lose going out there,” outside hitter Alyssa Cavanaugh said. “We’ve worked really hard to get into the NCAA, so there’s no point in working hard just to go out there and fear what could happen.”

WKU had hoped to stay at E.A. Diddle Arena this weekend as one of the 16 national seeds that host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

The Lady Toppers compiled a resume that included an AVCA ranking of 20, an RPI ranking of 15 and a 17-0 run through C-USA between the regular season and league tournament.

But the NCAA selection committee did not award WKU a national seed, instead shipping the Lady Toppers off to the other side of the country.

Coach Travis Hudson said that his team “probably felt like it deserved to play here.” But he said his players are embracing the chance to go somewhere different and face teams from an entirely different region of the country.

Stanford is also the site of WKU’s first ever NCAA Tournament win. The 2012 Lady Toppers knocked off Loyola Marymount at Maples Pavilion in the first round of that tournament before falling to the host Cardinal in the second round.

“Stanford is one of the legendary programs in college volleyball and that venue has seen a lot of players that have gone on to be national team players,” Hudson said. “This is one of those venues that it’s a special NCAA environment.

“Our kids are excited to go. We’ve got a good memory of getting our first NCAA win there and certainly we feel like we can do that again.”

WKU and Boise State are meeting Friday for the first time ever. Hudson spent the hours following Sunday night’s selection show poring over game tape and watching the Broncos.

Boise State went 25-6 overall and 16-2 in MWC play, earning its first ever NCAA Tournament bid.

By contrast, WKU has been to three straight NCAA Tournaments and six in the last seven years. This will be the Lady Toppers’ 10th trip the NCAAs, all of which have come since 2002.

“I think it’s different the first time you go,” Hudson said. “Hopefully we can use our experience in this tournament. We have a lot of kids on this team that have been in NCAA Tournament settings and hopefully we can come out and play well early.”

-Follow sports reporter Brad Stephens on Twitter @BradBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.