IOWA CITY, Iowa – It's the final stop of Lamar University volleyball team's long non-conference road trip. At the outset of the fourth weekend of the season – in which LU is yet to play a home match – the Cardinals head to the Hawkeye Invitational to face two unfamiliar teams Friday at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena on the campus of the University of Iowa.
 
The Cardinals (0-9) will compete in the first three matches of the tourney, which only hosts three teams. The opening contest will be at 1 p.m. Friday against the South Dakota (9-1), and the night cap of the opening day will feature Iowa (8-2) and LU at 7 p.m. The third and final match for Lamar will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, again against the Coyotes.
 
"Being able to play a team twice is an interesting twist," said head coach Alan Edwards. "It prepares our team for the second time they see someone, which is not something we normally get to do in the non-conference part of our schedule. We'll have to come up with what adjustments we think they'll make and adjust what we need to.
 
"Again, we set our non-conference schedule to help get us ready for the Southland, and we face a handful of teams twice during league play," he said. "We're at a place in our program where we can do some scouting and game planning. So when I got the opportunity for this tournament, I jumped at it."
 
Both Iowa and USD will be contrasting teams for the Cardinals to face. They Coyotes ranks second in the country in digs (18.83 per set) and 25^th in assists (13.94). On the flip side the Hawkeyes have six players that average two or more kills a set, and as a team they rank 29^th in the country in kills (14.13) and 14^th in attack percentage (.296).
 
South Dakota dropped its first match of the season, a 3-1 decision versus Alabama, but have been hot as of late winning their last nine. None of those were five set matches.
 
Junior setter Brittany Jessen was picked as the Summit League Player of the Week after she finished the Pacific Community Classic with a match average of 36.7 assists, 9.7 digs and 6.3 kills. She tops the Coyotes with 10.64 assists per set and 12 total service aces – only three errors.
 
"That will be a little more like a Southland Conference match for us, and will likely be a little longer rally," said Edwards. "South Dakota is strong and is in system a bunch. For us to be playing in a match like this is really going to help."
 
Audrey Reeg is USD's top hitter at 3.72 kills per set and has a .235 attack percentage – which is fourth on the team. Defensively, Lauren Mattison tops the Coyotes with 4.44 digs a set and Kelly Law leads the way with 0.83 blocks a game.
 
"It won't be about who can dig the most balls, but who can create a situation off the dig that can give us a chance to put a ball away in transition," he said.
 
For Iowa, the Hawkeye Invitational will be its second tournament to host, and enters on a two-match win streak. In their last tournament, the Hawkeyes traveled to in-state rival Iowa State and left with two wins (Montana and North Dakota State) and one lost (Iowa State).
 
"They are going to be pretty quick and have some nice athletes. They bring it at you from a bunch of angles and bring it at you really fast," said Edwards. "It'll be more of what we've seen so far.
 
Lauren Brobst leads the way for Hawkeye hitters, with a 3.71 kills per set mark and .365 attack percentage. Loxley Keala is the team leader in assists (11.31), Annika Olsen is in digs (4.16) and Ashley Mariani in blocks (0.91).
 
"We have to be able to dig balls against those type of teams, but at the same time try to create off the dig," he said. "Iowa give us another chance to face that."
 
The weekend marks the fourth-straight tournament in a different state for the Cardinals. It also is the first time that the Cards have played a match in the state of Iowa.
 
With the end of the non-conference schedule in sight,  Lamar has faced four Power Five conference schools, and one Power Five hopeful (Houston).
 
"We want to be a team and program that can compete at that level," said Edwards. "You don't wake up be like that, you have to grow into it. We're 0-9, but we're not 0-9 in the Southland. The level of play in our gym is pretty high, and the confidence level is too."
 
The Cardinals open the Southland portion of their schedule in a fitting way, on the road.  The first three matches will be away from McDonald, and it all gets started on Sept. 22 at Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m.