Guilford — Here’s how badly the Waterford High School volleyball team wants to win the program’s first title: senior Mickayla Shelburn, the Lancers' best hitter, is playing with a broken thumb on her right hand.

That would be the hand Shelburn uses to hit.

“The second-to-last play (in the CIAC Class M quarterfinals), me and Vanessa (Kobyluck), my setter, we both went to dive for the ball and our heads collided,” Shelburn said. “I got a bloody nose and broke my thumb.”

Shelburn and the fourth-seeded Lancers will play No. 7 Ellington in Saturday’s Class M final at Berlin High at 1 p.m.

“She has that fighting spirit,” Waterford coach Beau Lucas said of Shelburn, “and as the emotional leader of this team, when they see her all fired up and bloodied and still wanting to get in there and mix it up, it just raises everybody’s level. Their confidence soars because of her.”

Shelburn's toughness would also fall under the definition of “Lancer Volleyball,” as explained by Kobyluck.

“Lancer volleyball is a tight-knit group,” Kobyluck said. “We all love each other. We’re all best friends. ... We’re a hard-working team. We’re always there for each other.”

Waterford (21-5) will attempt to become the fourth Eastern Connecticut Conference team to win a state title.

Norwich Free Academy was the ECC’s first state champion (Class LL, 2008). East Lyme followed with back-to-back Class L championships (2010-11) and Ledyard won Class M in 2012.

Lyman Memorial, another ECC team, plays Coventry in the Class S final Saturday at the same site (10 a.m.) Waterford beat Lyman in two out of three meetings this fall.

“Lots of teams travel outside their conference to get competition,” Lucas said. “We don’t have to. The ECC is really strong.”

Waterford has been paced by its four ECC Medium Division first-team award winners — seniors Jillian Sykora (libero), Haley Taylor (middle hitter), Kobyluck and Shelburn.

The Lancers gained strength through adversity during their aforementioned Class M quarterfinal. They had a 2-1 game lead against Weston, but lost the fourth game and trailed in the decisive fifth game 19-18.

Waterford clawed out a 21-19 win. A fifth game goes to 15 points, provided the winner prevails by two points.

“After that tough game, we knew that we had to come back (in Wednesday’s semifinal) with the same intensity,” Kobyluck said. “We knew after all that hard work that we had to work as hard as we did in the last game.”

The Lancers thrashed Naugatuck Valley League champion Woodland in three games in the  semifinal. They had lost in the previous two Class M semifinals.

“I think getting through a really tough team in the quarterfinals really helped us with our confidence and our morale a lot,” Lucas said. “I think they needed a really emotional win. We hadn’t had one in a while and that fired the competitive spark in them.”

Woodland coach Jim Amato poked his head into Waterford’s postgame huddle to offer his best wishes. His Hawks beat the Lancers in four games in the 2013 Class M semifinals

“I told them, ‘Last time this ended differently,’” Amato said, ‘and (Lucas) came up on our bus and congratulated us and told us to go on and be the No. 1 team in the state.’ We acquiesced and we won the title that time, so I hope they acquiesce and win the title this time. It’s only fair. He’s done a great job with the program.”

Waterford will do all it can.

“We knew that we were going to get back (to the semifinals) and make it (to the final)," Kobyluck said.

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED