BEAUMONT, Texas – Week 2 of the Northwestern State volleyball team's four-week road swing through the Southland Conference resumes Thursday.
 
It does so with NSU facing Lamar and in a different mental state than when the road trip began a week ago thanks in part to splitting the first two contests on the six-match trip.
 
"To go into (New Orleans') gym and to pull that out in four was big," first-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "It shows what we can do and proves to the girls they can go on the road, and even if it's not easy, they can fight and get a win on the road."
 
Thursday's 7 p.m. match at Lamar gives NSU (5-18, 3-7 Southland) a chance at its third victory in four matches as it continues its push for a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament in late November.
 
NSU enters this weekend's matches in 10^th place, two games out of the cutoff line of eighth place. Both matches provide a chance for Northwestern State to make up ground on two teams directly ahead of it.
 
Lamar (13-8, 3-4) sits 1.5 games ahead of NSU in the standings while Saturday's opponent, Sam Houston State, is in a tie for eighth place.
 
Both matches will have some measure of familiarity for NSU, which already has faced Sam Houston State, falling to the Bearkats, 3-2, on Sept. 29.
 
Although NSU has not faced Lamar since defeating the Cardinals in five sets on Oct. 23, 2014, Kiracofe expects to see something NSU has seen on at least one other occasion this season.
 
"Lamar's somewhat similar to Stephen F. (Austin) in that they have very talented middles, and they want to run their offense through them," he said. "I'll put our middles up against anybody. If we're able to slow them down and make some other people try to score, we'll be in a good position. It's not a matchup we won't be used to."
 
Lamar's middle blocker tandem of Chelsea Grant and Cortney Moore average a combined 5.59 kllls per set while Grant leads the conference in hitting percentage (.390) and blocks per set (1.33).
 
NSU counters in the middle with Glynna Johnson, who averages 1.77 kills per set and ranks third in the Southland in hitting percentage (.378), and Amanda Kunz, who averages 1.69 kills per set and has chipped in 22 service aces.
 
Johnson enters the match after collecting a career-high-tying 17 kills against Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday.
 
Following Thursday's match, Northwestern State travels to Huntsville, Texas, on Saturday to face Sam Houston State. First serve in that match is set for 1 p.m.