HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Westward trips across the Sabine River tend to bring out something different in the Northwestern State volleyball team.
 
Entering Texas seems to bring out plenty of familiarity for the Lady Demons, who return to Southland Conference play Thursday at Sam Houston State. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. in the Health and Kinesiology Center.
 
Thursday marks the start of a two-match road trip that concludes Saturday at Stephen F. Austin.
 
"They like going back to play there," said second-year head coach Sean Kiracofe, whose 15-player roster includes 12 native Texans. "They're playing against players they played with or against in high school and club. There's good rivalries, personal rivalries, and it's closer to family, so they get to come and we get a good crowd."
 
The purple-hued backers have seen NSU (11-13, 6-3) play well away from Natchitoches, winning four of its first five conference road matches. Sam Houston State (9-11, 3-4) presents a different type of challenge for Northwestern State.
 
The Bearkats have played once since Oct. 8, falling to Abilene Christian in five sets at ACU on Oct. 15. Sam Houston's loss to the Wildcats marked its second straight five-set defeat after dropping a 3-2 decision at conference-leading Texas A&M-Corpus Christi a week earlier.
 
"It's hard to know what we're going to see from them," Kiracofe said. "Last week, they were ravaged by the flu. Our scout video will be altered from what it normally would be."
 
Whether battling the flu or working at full strength, Sam Houston will be a unique opponent for a Northwestern State team that sits in third place in the conference race.
 
The Bearkats feature two of the Southland's top 10 attackers in kills per set. Juniors Jordyn Vaughn (3.35, 4^th) and Brooke White (3.22, 6^th) set the offensive pace for the Bearkats, who also have the conference's second-most efficient hitter (Amanda Gooch, .321).
 
Northwestern State's Alexis Warren leads the conference in kills per set in conference matches (3.82) and ranks seventh in all matches (3.14).
 
"They run a different offense," Kiracofe said. "It's a different pace and look than you're used to. You always have to adjust to it. Luckily for us, there are some similarities to Southeastern (Louisiana) with what they're doing on offense."
 
Southeastern handed NSU a five-set loss on Saturday, rallying from a 2-1 deficit.
 
Bouncing back from a tough loss is something Kiracofe has seen his team do on several occasions this season. The resiliency is something that has not surprised him.
 
"You never know how it's going to turn out, but I thought I saw in this freshman class resiliency, levelheadedness and competitive fire when they came in," Kiracofe said. "Then having the returners we had coming back and working with them in the spring, we gave them the ability to approach tough situations with confidence. That has been a big help.
 
"Every time we've called on them to make a turnaround after a tough loss, they've been able to do that. This time around it comes against two great opponents in Sam Houston and SFA."