Akagi clapped his hands: "The power was spot on, combined with Oori Ren's own spiking strength, it would have been almost impossible to save."
Hinata, sitting on the coaching bench, had already jumped up: "That one-on-one block was just too cool!"
Wakamura, standing by the sidelines, finally couldn't hold it in and started ranting, "What is there to be happy about at Inarizaki! They're the ones who just got blocked, aren't they!"
At a time like this, you should all have a collective self-reflection!
Matou sighed.
Coach Kurosu stroked his chin thoughtfully.
The process of a running spike involves tightening the posterior chain and then tightening the anterior chain; from height to power, it essentially relies on the coordinated exertion of the entire body.
As for blocking, the jump from a stationary position relies almost entirely on the legs, so the blocking height of an average player is usually much lower than their spike height.
Similarly, if elements like a running start or a loading phase could be added to a block.. it could also greatly increase the height of the block.
But problems arise as a result; both the approach and the buildup of power will seriously affect the time it takes for a Blocker to reach their maximum height.
The Blocker's understanding of the opponent, their ability to coordinate the overall Setter tactics, their timing for the ball are all extremely high.
Being able to achieve this was, without a doubt, built upon a foundation of immense training volume.
In that instant, he suddenly remembered a team flag he had seen before at the Haruko tournament.
[A genius who cannot be defeated without effort]
Under the puzzled gazes of Hinata and Suna, Coach Kurosu burst into laughter.
As expected.. are there surprises everywhere?
In the first match of the Hyogo Prefecture representative selection semifinals, Inarizaki defeated Minetai 2-0, securing a spot in the national tournament.
In the second match, Municipal Kobe defeated Benshyazhan Academy 2-0, securing the second spot for the nationals.
On the afternoon of the same day, the finals of the Interhigh Hyogo Prefecture Representative Selection were held.
Inarizaki High School played against Kobe Municipal High School.
Unlike the finals of Haruko, the Interhigh finals are played in a best-of-three format.
Although it didn't have the same scale as Haruko, various media outlets arrived one after another, television stations were prepared to broadcast it as usual.
As Hinata came out of the locker room to prepare for the match, he remembered something very important and ran to Nagumo's side.
He asked cautiously, "Nagumo-senpai, have you spoken to Wakamura-senpai about that matter?"
Nagumo fell silent.
In an instant, his face turned ashen, as if he had lost all meaning in life: "No.."
Actually, he blocked me a long time ago.
I originally wanted to find him through his current teammates, but I found out..
Matou Yukimaru blocked me on his phone, too.
Passing by, Matou's former junior high teammate, Akagi Michinari, couldn't help but burst out laughing: "That's pathetic."
Nagumo protested, "Hey! Michinari! Don't laugh at me!"
In the locker room on the other side of the arena, Matou reached out and tapped on the metal door of the locker, waking up Wakamura, who was sleeping.
Watching him sluggishly change clothes and put on his knee pads, Matou suddenly said, "Aran looked for me yesterday."
Although Wakamura-senpai had used his phone to block all those third-years from Inarizaki, he had actually changed his settings to "Do Not Disturb" later, so he could still see things they had sent in his trash folder.
“He said..”
Wakamura-senpai shut the wardrobe door with a thud, making a dull sound. "Ah, I know."
Matou fell silent, merely watching the other person quietly.
Going to Inarizaki to be someone's substitute or something.." Wakamura's fists were clenched so tightly that the veins on the back of his hands stood out, "It's nothing short of self-degrading, useless scrap metal.
Matou froze for a moment. "You know? Then why do you still—"
Grabbing the knee pads beside him, Wakamura kept his head down as he squeezed past Matou to exit the locker room.
The two of them didn't say a word to each other along the way, simply walking quietly at the very end of the main group until they reached the end of the player tunnel.
The lights in the arena were very bright, shining into the lightless player tunnel and making it difficult for Matou, who was walking behind, to see Wakamura-senpai ahead clearly.
Before stepping onto the court, Wakamura-senpai suddenly turned back to look at his childhood friend.
He held his chin up proudly, feeling no sense of being looked down upon by others because of his height.
“What I care about is very simple.”
The music of the Inarizaki brass band rang in everyone's ears, followed by the cheers from Municipal Kobe.
I don't think I'm any worse than Miya Atsumu.
Is that all?
Matou lowered his eyes with a smile, then spoke with utmost seriousness.
At the same time, the boy wearing the same uniform as them also walked over.
That's what we're thinking too, Captain!
Wakamura had a bold smile on his face: "Let's go! Let's take down those foxes!"
The sounds of volleyballs echoed from both sides simultaneously.
The black-clad Inarizaki team and the vibrantly colored Kobe team stood at opposite ends of the court.
Please look forward to playing us!!
Author's Note:
Continuing with the extra updates for tonight [cat paw]
Chapter 30: The Thirtieth Fox
Municipal Kobe's lineup this year has been strengthened compared to previous years.
Their overall lineup is centered around Setter Wakamura, with the two Middle Blockers, Tosaka and Matou, coordinating the blocking and middle quick attacks, while the Spiker and Libero focus primarily on receiving and defense.
Additionally, because their Libero, Hanae, is also very formidable, they do not make many defensive errors.
However, attacks relying on the Middle Blocker always lack a certain amount of power; if they face a high-level Blocker—such as Suna—they can become somewhat ineffective.
But their lineup is different this year.
Among the first-year freshmen, there is a top Wing Spiker from the Hyogo Prefecture Interhigh Junior High, who directly compensated for their deficiency in offense.
The only drawback.. might be that this young Ace is slightly lacking in experience.
Wakamura calmly observed the blocking on Inarizaki's side, noticing that after their little Ace, Kanzaki, was likely targeted by Inarizaki's Libero, he directly passed the ball to Matou on the other side.
Matou, who shared an extremely high level of chemistry with him, decisively chose a tip attack, successfully scoring the point.
Miya Atsumu was not surprised: "So it really is the Middle Blocker core?"
Based on the first few plays, Kanzaki's individual aerial combat ability is indeed excellent, but there are issues with his coordination with the team.
Many times when Wakamura gave him a toss, he would subconsciously hesitate for a moment, which couldn't help but make Miya Atsumu wonder if this guy had been screwed over by his own Setter back in junior high.
As this happened repeatedly, several opportunities were wasted.
Setting aside the matters regarding offense, what truly gave the members of Inarizaki a headache was the opponent's blocking itself.
Aran and Ginjima's strong spikes alone would easily be caught by those two sharp Middle Blockers.
Should I use the regular Quick Attack..
Watching Municipal Kobe's score slowly catch up, Miya Atsumu frowned slightly. The standard Quick Attack was proving to be a bit slow to take effect; he needed to end the match directly.
Sorry, Coach, I can't hide this anymore.
Before anyone could even react, the volleyball flew from Miya Atsumu's hands, Miya Osamu, who had already jumped at the edge of the net, raised his hands and spiked it down.
The ball was short and flat, almost a straight shot, with an overall speed so intense it left everyone stunned.
The next second, the volleyball slammed down heavily.
And Kanzaki, being the closest, reached out almost by muscle memory, forcefully making contact with the ball.
The manager on the sidelines, Iguro, stood up and shouted loudly, "Save it!!"
Wakamura rushed toward the ball in three large strides, but even stretching his hand to the limit, he still failed to touch it.
The volleyball slammed into the ground with a dull thud.
The whistle blew, the score ended at 25:23, with Inarizaki taking the first set.
Climbing up from the floor, Wakamura let out a long breath. "It's okay, next set."
The Ace, who had just failed to receive the last ball, bowed deeply to everyone: "I'm sorry, seniors! It was my mistake!"
Just a little bit more. If they could have defended and scored that point, they could have tied with Inarizaki and gone into extra time; there would have been plenty of opportunities then.
Libero Hanae patted Kanzaki on the back: "It was good enough that you could touch it, don't worry about it. Just pay more attention to the quick attacks on the sidelines in the next set."
"Yes." Kanzaki bit his lower lip hard.
Sitting down on the coach's bench, Wakamura clenched his fists.
That Miya Atsumu is simply like a monster.
That kind of ball, that kind of unreasonable ball.. can a human actually set it like that?
It wasn't a process where the ball was received first and then the Spiker aimed for a Spike; instead, the Spiker would jump first, the Setter would aim to receive the ball at the Spiker's hitting point.
—Absolutely absurd.
Is this.. what they call a genius?
Knowing that Miya Atsumu using the Quick Attack was merely a temporary measure, Coach Kurosu said nothing.
“Since he's used it, he's used it. Kobe's level this year is indeed strong; I expect once their Little Giant grows a bit more.. they will be our formidable rival.”
However.. since it's already been brought out, we should strive to settle the battle in two sets, so we don't get dragged into a disadvantageous situation by a long match.