Last weekend, the volleyball team won both its games, tying the Huskies for second place in the conference. Lauren DeTurk had a double-double in both wins and was honored by the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) as the Player of the Week. In recognition of her accomplishments, she also received this week’s Northeastern News Player of the Week honors.

The Huskies beat both William ‘ Mary and Virginia Commonwealth, with DeTurk recording 34 kills and 38 digs. She also leads the CAA in double-doubles with 15 on the season.

As for being CAA Player of the Week, DeTurk said she has never been acknowledged like this before.

“It’s pretty exciting,” she said. “No one has been recognized on our team yet so it’s nice to see.”

This weekend’s games are very important to the team, and without senior captain Kira Batura, who was injured last week, other team members need to step up.

“We really need her for the postseason but for this weekend we should still be able to win our games,” DeTurk said. “We have played both teams before and beaten them.”

With the season winding down, DeTurk said she has high hopes.

“We are looking to host the tournament and are not giving up,” she said. “Delaware has a tougher remaining schedule.”

DeTurk, a junior biology major, hopes to take her degree back into the classroom to be a teacher. Along with teaching, she wants to coach volleyball at a high school.

DeTurk currently works at SquashBusters, a community service program. The program teaches underprivileged children to play squash while learning other life lessons in the process. She works in the academic section, trying to inform kids about diversity and discrimination.

DeTurk, who is originally from California, said she loves Boston. She enjoys music and loves going to concerts when she has the chance. DeTurk said coming to Northeastern from California was a great decision.

“It’s so different here,” DeTurk said.

Her mom is from New Jersey and she has a lot of family in the northeast so she really wanted to come to the East Coast, she said.

DeTurk plans to play beach volleyball professionally back in southern California after graduation before entering the work force.

One of the things she misses most is her family, DeTurk said. She only sees them when she’s home for breaks, and has to be back in Boston in early August for volleyball. Even though not being home is tough, she still enjoys Northeastern and everything that it has to offer.

“I enjoy the experience of living in a city,” DeTurk said. “I have learned so much from being here.”

The team is only one game behind Delaware, and DeTurk said she believes their chances of catching the Fighting Blue Hens are pretty good.

“We only played Delaware once and we beat them,” she said. “We are both very good defensively.”

To keep the momentum going after this past weekend’s success, it is important for the team to stay focused in practice, she said.

“Recently we have made a breakthrough in blocking,” DeTurk said. “It really gives us momentum during the game.”

– Jared Shafran, News Correspondent