BEAUMONT, Texas – With sights set on a repeat trip to the Southland Conference Tournament, the Northwestern State volleyball team opens conference play with a trip to face Lamar on Thursday at 7 p.m.
 
NSU (4-10) has the opportunity to extend a five-match winning streak against Lamar (2-8). Despite the Lady Demons' recent success against Lamar, the Cardinals hold a 26-14 advantage in the all-time series.
 
Lamar struggled to find its footing in non-conference play this season following the severe flooding from Hurricane Harvey in late August. Due to the hurricane, the Cardinals were forced to cancel a tournament that would have shown Lamar in action three times.
 
"They've clearly gone through a lot in the last few weeks," third-year head coach Sean Kiracofe said. "That definitely has to play a role in their struggles to this point in the season."
 
Lamar will field a different front this year compared to years past with the loss of two-time All-Southland selection Chelsea Grant, an offensive and defensive force for the Cardinals, due to graduation.
 
"They still have a lot of athletes on the team," Kiracofe said. "They've had a bunch of different lineups so far in what we've been able to see, so you don't know exactly what you're going to be going up against, because it definitely could be somebody different in a different position."
 
Due to the loss of three home matches, the Cardinals have only played one match in their own friendly confines.
 
"You know they're going to come out and probably have a lot of motivation to be playing at home for the first time in a while," Kiracofe said.
 
The Lady Demons are experienced with hostile environments this season, playing all 14 matches away from home. The last time NSU saw any action on its home court was in the Purple-White scrimmage on Aug. 21.
 
With five road and nine neutral-site matches behind them, the Lady Demons have grown comfortable in boisterous atmospheres.  In true road matches, the Lady Demons are 3-2 with sweeps over Troy and Alcorn as well as a pair of five-set thrillers, beating UL Monroe while dropping one to Tulane.
 
"The Troy match, I mean that was a great college athletic atmosphere," Kiracofe said. "It was fantastic and it was fun to play in. Tulane, same thing.
 
"Our team has stepped up in those moments, so I don't think that there is going to be a situation where we walk into somebody else's gym in conference play and be overtaken by the moment."  
 
Updates for Thursday's match against Lamar will be posted live on Twitter (@NSUDemonsVB).