Groton — East Lyme senior Annie Walker believed all along that her team could win the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I tournament title if they could just get it together.

Norwich Free Academy senior Emily Marker didn’t give too much thought to winning the title, nor did she think she'd even be able to play after tearing the ACL and MCL in her left knee last November.

Walker’s faith was rewarded at Monday's ECC Division I tournament semifinals while Marker was enthusiastically surprised. Fifth-seeded East Lyme played its best match of the season and blitzed top-seeded Fitch 25-14, 25-13, 25-16 in the semifinals.

Third-seeded Norwich Free Academy showed off its toughness as it swept No. 2 Killingly 25-18, 25-23, 25-17 in the other semifinal.

“I’m not surprised,” Walker said. “I really had faith in my team. I knew we could do it from the start. It was just a matter of when.”

Marker said, “I was not expecting (an) ECC tournament (title). It wasn’t really something I thought about, honestly, but I’m very proud of us. For my senior year, this is an awesome gift for them to give to us.”

East Lyme will play at NFA on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The teams split their two regular-season matches.

The Vikings (11-9) had to beat Guilford in their final regular-season match to get to .500. Fitch beat them twice in four games during the regular season, too.

East Lyme jumped Fitch early on Monday and never let up. It led 10-3 in Game 1, 16-8 in Game 2, and 11-3 in the final game.

“We played really angry to win,” Walker said with a laugh. “We were tired of losing at the beginning of the season. We had to figure it out. And we did.”

The Vikings beat Fitch at its own game, defense, led by junior libero Madison Bell. She was credited with 10 digs but likely had more.

Walker had 29 assists and two aces, while sophomore Sydney Iannantuono (11 kills) and seniors Gabrielle Murphy (10 kills) and Megan Appleton (eight kills) had their way up front.

It was out of character for the Falcons (13-7) to struggle so much defensively as it had a been a strength that flustered opponents. They also hit most of their attacks into the net or out-of-bounds, finishing with just 10 kills.

“We just weren’t ready to play tonight,” Fitch coach Steve Banks said. “Tonight was a tough night for us (defensively). I don’t want to say too much because East Lyme played really well, but we’ve never played that bad. Give them credit.”

Senior Olivia Nordstrom had eight assists and three aces for the Falcons.

In the first match, senior Meghan Goldstein had 13 kills, classmate MacKenzie Burke had nine kills, and junior Kayley Ericson had 28 assists for NFA (13-7).

Marker wasn’t sure she could play this season after injuring her knee in a powder puff football game two days before last Thanksgiving. She had to wait for the MCL to heal before she could have surgery in January. Yet there she was on Monday, bulky knee brace and all, in a three-point stance before every serve. She had 13 digs.

“I wasn’t supposed to be cleared until the end of October,” Marker smiled, “but they cleared me early. I got cleared the day before tryouts, and I came back, and here we are now.”

NFA had some anxious moments in Game 2 as it frittered away leads of 10-3 and 15-6.

Junior Alexandra Conde (12 kills) helped Killingly fight back and take a 20-19 lead.

Marker served an ace for match point and Goldstein tipped the ball over for a kill for the win.

“(Killingly is) a good team,” Wildcats coach Bill Howard said. “I kept telling my girls, ‘You’ve got to keep playing because this is a game of runs.’

“What I’m proud of is how we responded. Maybe earlier in the season, a good team makes a run like that on us and we wouldn’t have responded the way we did (tonight). At times we were a little inconsistent, but overall, I think the way we responded when a good team made a run at us says a lot about how far we’ve come this year.”

• Skylar Hanley had 28 assists and 12 digs as second-seeded Griswold ousted No. 3 Waterford 25-23, 25-19, 19-25, 25-12 in the Division III tournament at Plainfield. Alaina Moger had 43 assists, two aces and 11 digs for the Lancers (9-12) while Olivia Pacheco had nine kills and two aces, Savannah Larson 12 kills, Sydney Tabor four aces, and Molly Kosma 20 digs. Griswold plays No.1 Lyman Memorial, a 3-0 winner over No. 4 Plainfield in the other semifinal, in Wednesday's title match at NFA (4:30 p.m.)

n.griffen@theday.com

2016 ECC AWARD WINNERS / VOLLEYBALL

Following are 2016 Eastern Connecticut Conference volleyball all-stars and sportsmanship award winners:

Division I

First team — Madison Bell (East Lyme), Sydney Iannatuono (East Lyme), Ryana Kelsey (Fitch), Olivia Nordstrom (Fitch), Caroline Parker (Fitch), Mackenzie Burke (NFA), Kayley Ericson (NFA).

Honorable mention — Nora Ryan (Fitch), Gabi Murphy, (East Lyme), Bethanie Deveau (Ledyard), Whitney Brandt (Ledyard), Madyson Robledo Ramsey (New London), Emily Marker (NFA), Megan Goldstein (NFA).

Sportsmanship award — Lauren Imbriaco (East Lyme), Natalie Schafer (Fitch), Ahna Harkness (Ledyard), Mackjeannie Joseph (New London), Jessica Surfus (NFA).

Division II

First team — Jillian Reynolds (Bacon), Ally Conde (Killingly), Meredith Zamperini (Killingly), Reilly Allen (Killingly), Hailey Edwards (Montville), Olivia Pacheco (Waterford), Maddy Gronski (Woodstock).

Honorable mention — Allison Camboulives (Bacon), Kelly Ann Kessler (Bacon), Abby Laseter (Killingly), Brooke Lavallie (Montville), Ana Magano (Waterford), Caroline Easton (Woodstock), Coleen Coleen Solitro (Woodstock).

Sportsmanship award — Emma Fritz (Bacon), Abby Laseter (Killingly), Annie Ricupero (Montville), Sydney Tabor (Waterford), Clara Sarantopolous (Woodstock).

Division III

First team — Casey Rubino (Griswold), Adine Hilbert (Griswold), Andee Bender (Lyman Memorial), Abby Bundy (Lyman Memorial), Katy Konow (Lyman Memorial), Katee Meese (Lyman Memorial), Jaime Beauregard (Plainfield).

Honorable mention — Meredith Brown (Griswold), Skylar Hanley (Griswold), Brooke Rainville (Griswold), Meg Verizzi (Lyman Memorial), Sarah Jankowski (Plainfield), Gracie Anglin (Wheeler), Chelsea Orefice (Windham).

Sportsmanship award — Emma Higgins (Griswold), Marina Megson (Lyman Memorial), Heather Milliron (Plainfield), Desirae Rinkes (Wheeler), Yhaira Vellon Jimenez (Windham).