HUNTSVILLE, Texas – For the fourth time under coach Sean Kiracofe, Northwestern State volleyball is going to play in the Southland Conference tournament.
 
"It's always great to see those post from the Southland Conference main office that you're clinched," Kiracofe said with a smile. "And it's always good to see that early on with some time to spare, but it's definitely something that the team was excited about."
 
But even with that goal checked off the list, the Lady Demons (18-8, 10-2 SLC) cannot rest on their laurels with two highly important road matches this week beginning with Sam Houston on Thursday night.
 
Across the next three matches, two on the road and one at home next week, NSU faces the three teams directly behind them in the conference standings, hoping to knock the Lady Demons from that second position.
 
NSU is a perfect 6-0 on the road in conference matches, but face, for the first time this season, an opponent they have seen once before in Sam Houston State on Thursday night in Huntsville.
 
The Bearkats handed the Lady Demons a loss on opening night of the conference season, winning the final three sets in a row after NSU took the opener 25-21. The .043 attack percentage from that match remains the lowest total of the season for the Lady Demons, over .100 points less than their next lowest effort in conference play.
 
"That first weekend was both great and rough for us at the same time," Kiracofe said. "I definitely feel like there is a chip on our shoulder going back into Sam to be able to even up that series. 
 
"To have that first match of the year not go the way we wanted it to and to still be able to turn around and respond. We played two great teams after that with HBU and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and do what we wanted to in tough situations. We had to come back against HBU and go on the road at Corpus, which was a very tough environment, and to win that one in four, really gives us that confidence factor to be able to go on this tough stretch."
 
Sam Houston (13-11, 9-3 SLC) has played well on their home floor this year, sitting at 5-1 on the season in home conference matches. The lone loss came at the hands of McNeese in a five-set thriller where the Bearkats fell behind 2-0 before forcing the decisive fifth set.
 
Thursday's match features the top two teams in the Southland in terms of kills per set, and the two most recent recipients of the weekly Players of the Week honor. NSU's Hannah Brister earned her fifth offensive honor this week while Sam Houston libero Addison Miller took home her second defensive honor of the season.
 
Sam Houston averages 13.35 kills per set, a miniscule .01 ahead of the Lady Demons on the season, two of just three teams currently averaging over 13 kills per set this year. Ashley Lewis leads the Bearkats with 348 kills this year, third highest total in the SLC, with a 3.66 kill per set average, second in the SLC to Brister's 4.71 average.
 
A win for the Lady Demons on Thursday evens the season series with the Bearkats and moves the team one match closer to securing the No. 2 seed in the Southland Conference tournament.
 
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