By Nathan Vaughan

Northeastern played host to the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) volleyball awards banquet Friday night and took home the kind of awards befitting the CAA tournament’s No. 1 seed.

NU, which hosted the event because Boston is the site of the tournament as the Huskies are the No. 1 seed, had two of its own named as CAA Player of the Year and CAA Co-Coach of the year. Senior captain and outside hitter Lauren DeTurk was named the conference’s player of the year, and Ken Nichols was honored as one of the coaches of the year.

Also announced at the event were the All-CAA rookie, first, second and third teams, and the setter and defensive specialist of the year awards.

The announcements for the All-CAA rookie, second and third teams were uneventful for the Huskies. With the naming of the first team All-CAA came the beginning of the Huskies’ recognition.

First was sophomore setter and opposite hitter Britney Brown. Brown earned this award by compiling huge numbers throughout the season, leading the Huskies and the CAA with 41 service aces, and ranking nationally for aces per set with .44. Brown finished the season second on the team in both kills and sets with 209 and 450 respectively. Brown set the school single match ace record with a 10-ace performance in the three set sweep of UNC Wilmington on Oct. 19.

“[I was] surprised. I didn’t see it coming,” Brown said. “It’s a great honor, but as Lauren [DeTurk] and coach said without the teammates none of it would be recognized. It really is like a team award because without every single player on the team none of us would shine. We make each other shine. ”

Also named to the All-CAA first team was DeTurk. She was the Huskies’ leading hitter during the regular season with an impressive total of 328 kills. Her kills per set ranked her second in the CAA. DeTurk finished second on the team in digs and service aces with 309 and 29 respectively. DeTurk was eighth in digs and seventh in aces among CAA players. Earlier in the year DeTurk became only the sixth Husky ever to record 1,000 kills and digs. She stands third in kills and eighth in digs on NU’s all-time career lists.

“I think there are so many good players, I think they could have picked anybody,” DeTurk said. “I definitely think of it as respect for Northeastern.”

Rounding out the awards for Northeastern was Nichols. He shares the award with Delaware head coach Bonnie Kenny. This year the Huskies had their best ever finish in the CAA and best regular season performance in 16 years. Nichols has now won the coach of the year award in each conference he’s coached – the Big East (in 1999, with Providence), America East (2000, NU) and CAA.

“It’s always very rewarding, it’s a very competitive profession by nature,” Nichols said. “It’s always nice to be recognized for what you do. It’s nice to share it with someone like Bonnie [Kenny], who has been coaching for a long time. Ultimately individual awards are recognition for the team, and the Coach of the Year award epitomizes that philosophy.”