The entire adjustment of their positions after the serve was extremely fast, executed almost in one fluid motion.
But the opposing team gave them no chance to adjust their defense; after the first reception error, the second touch sent the ball even further away.
The volleyball landed out of bounds, Inarizaki scored.
After successfully taking the first point, Miya Atsumu clenched his fist tightly. "Nice!"
"Nice serve, Atsumu-senpai!" Hinata cheered immediately.
"Nice play!" Kiryu shouted from the sidelines as well.
In yesterday's match, Miya Atsumu had been using power serves, so this was the first time during this training camp that he had seen Miya Atsumu use a jump float serve.
This level of proficiency and trickiness.. it's much stronger than before.
If he were to receive this ball, how should he handle it?
Receiving the volleyball returned by Inubushi Higashi, Miya Atsumu walked back to the serving position with a face full of pride.
Alright, let's see him score ten points in a row with his serves!
But ideals are beautiful, while reality is cruel.
Inubushi Higashi was no weakling either; although the Libero, Ishikawa, was only a second-year, he was exceptionally skilled at receiving serves.
The second ball sent by Miya Atsumu was steadily received by him and sent into the hands of the setter, Satomi Hideji.
“Satomi-senpai!”
Satomi quickly scanned the positioning of Suna and Miya Osamu, while at the same time, the Ace Katori was loudly calling for a toss from Position 4.
Give me the ball!!
Suna's gaze swept toward Katori Saue, but he didn't move immediately.
He was still quite confident in his blocking height; at this moment, he only needed to patiently.. wait for the setter to toss the ball.
Just as Suna expected, Satomi didn't give the ball to Katori, but instead sent it via the shortest path to Kai Kiyoharu, who was in the center performing a Back Set.
Suna and Miya Osamu closed in from both sides, leaving Kai Kiyoharu with no choice but to spike straight down the line.
Despite how difficult it was, Kai could only spike it this way.
He didn't dare face Inarizaki's monster block directly, besides, a ball spiked straight out was better than having it touched on the way down.
Akagi, who had already been waiting where the block was missing, lowered his center of gravity and steadily received the ball.
Miya Atsumu stepped forward immediately, lightly jumping behind the three-meter line, seemingly preparing for a jump set.
On the other side, Suna and Miya Osamu had already moved toward Position 4 to prepare for a positional advantage to cover Aran, while Hinata, who had originally prepared to spread out toward Position 2, paused upon seeing Miya Atsumu's movement.
This isn't a jump set.. it's a setter's back-row attack.
Aran-senpai had already jumped, Atsumu-senpai had not given him any instructions, so he could not move forward any further at this moment.
If he also went on the offensive, only Akagi-senpai would be left in the back row for Inarizaki, leaving a gap in the defense that was far too large.
And just as Hinata could see it, the members of Inubushi Higashi on the other side of the net naturally saw it too.
Kai Kiyoharu rushed in front of Miya Atsumu immediately to prepare for a block, while Katori, who had already swapped positions with the middle blocker Kai, was in no hurry to act alongside Murakami.
They needed to be on guard against Miya Atsumu turning his spike into a set again; compared to Miya Atsumu's offense, Aran and Suna on this side were indeed more difficult to deal with.
And Miya Atsumu had no intention of passing the ball to anyone else.
He only had one freshman blocking on his side; it would be a bit much if he couldn't score a point now.
Kai stared at Miya Atsumu's movements.
Actually, because Miya Osamu was so versatile and could fill any gap in Inarizaki, Miya Atsumu had quite a high number of spikes in official matches.
Therefore, he has seen many references.
And now, with this posture, this angle, combined with the speed and condition of the arm swing..
It's over here!
Kai instantly adjusted his blocking direction, positioning himself directly in the path of Miya Atsumu's spike.
Hinata's pupils contracted, he immediately took a step forward.
This ball will be blocked, so he must step forward to prepare for a counterattack; otherwise, he will have to perform a diving save.
Coach Kurosu's eyes lit up from the sidelines.
What a great read! That's a good position! It just needs a tiny bit of micro-adjustment through a split-second reaction afterward.
In the next instant, accompanied by a loud thud, the volleyball was blocked back and fell rapidly to the ground.
Kai caught Miya Atsumu's spike with one hand, his face full of excitement.
Who is he?
A genius Middle Blocker who could secure a starting position on a powerhouse school at the national level even in his first year!
Before Akagi could dive to save the ball, a piercing scream rang out in everyone's ears: "Aaaargh—!"
Hinata, who hadn't even stabilized himself under the ball, was knocked backward by it; the ball hit him in the face and then bounced high into the air.
Nice play, Shoyo!
Although his conscience stung, Miya Atsumu still immediately stepped over Hinata's fallen body, raising his hand to set the ball to Suna, who had already moved into the center.
Suna did not let Hinata's save go to waste; as Kai Kiyoharu and the others jumped to chase it down, he adjusted his upper body in mid-air and spiked a straight shot.
The volleyball landed on the line, Inarizaki scored.
Hinata sat up from the floor, just as he was preparing for the follow-up defense, he saw that Suna had already scored.
So he sat on the ground and raised his hand to cover his nose.
It hurts so much!
Miya Atsumu crouched down, reaching out to grab Hinata's hand. "Are you okay? Let me see."
Getting hit in the face by a volleyball can easily cause nasal fractures and bleeding, uncontrolled bleeding can be very troublesome. Not to mention the possibility of a broken nose, or in more serious cases, even hearing loss.
Hinata let go of his face: "It just hurts a little."
It wasn't even a spike just now, just a ball blocked back by a block; the pain itself was actually mostly due to the hardness of the volleyball.
After confirming Hinata was fine, Coach Kurosu's expression turned serious. He grabbed Hinata and began scolding him, "Is this how Coach Washijo taught you?"
Do you know that you need to move forward to counterattack? When you see the ball coming back down, don't you know how to adjust your position?
It's just a half-step difference. Are your feet glued to the floor? Do you have to get hit before you realize it hurts?
Watch the ball, watch the ball! You're just watching without moving, aren't you? Then what are you even looking at!
Hinata was scolded so harshly that he didn't even dare to lift his head, but it was obvious that not a single senpai was taking his side right now; in fact, Kita Team had just given him a very dangerous look..
Help, why do I feel like I'm still being scolded by Coach Washijo at Shiratorizawa?
Kai Kiyoharu wiped away his crocodile tears: "That's so tragic, Shoyo."
Katori remained silent for a moment, not thinking for a second that he couldn't see this guy was secretly laughing.
You've chosen your friends poorly, little one of Inarizaki.
The serve passed to the Inubushi Higashi Spiker, Murakami Masakuni.
Like most Wing Spikers, Murakami's serve was a very standard, powerful serve.
But in terms of ball speed, there was still a huge gap between him and Oikawa and the others.
"I've got it!" Akagi shouted as he stepped forward, sending the ball steadily toward Miya Atsumu's head.
He did indeed frequently struggle with receiving serves, but that varied from person to person.
If he can't handle Ushijima's serve, how can he handle Murakami's?
Miya Atsumu looked up at the falling volleyball, contemplating how to receive it.
The blockers on the opposite side were clearly on guard against Suna, while the Libero's positioning was centered.
First, if we rule out Suna, using the remaining options to set up a tiered attack with Miya Osamu and Aran would also be a good choice.
Glancing once more at Kai's lower body as he prepared to move toward Miya Osamu, Miya Atsumu jumped in place. After leaping to his highest point while maintaining a standard setting posture, he suddenly leaned back slightly to deliver a back set.
——A back set spread wide toward Position 2.
Down on the court, Kiryu nodded: "As expected of Miya Atsumu."
For a setter, the most difficult basic option is a setting that pulls wide to either side.
Someone like Usui Mitsuru has a bit of trouble handling them, so Kiryu's only requirement for him is to deliver high sets.
And Miya Atsumu's flat sets were a sight to behold every time he saw them.
Mamiya took a step forward and lunged toward Hinata.
But with just that single step, he suddenly realized that something felt different.
Based on his memory of Hinata Shoyo's quick attack timing during the last training camp, his block would at most be a half-block.
But the height of this ball.. was completely above his block.
Did he jump too low?
Before Mamiya could think any further, Hinata's spike had already slammed down right next to the pole.
The volleyball flew parallel to the sideline, smashing into the backcourt of Inubushi Higashi at the shortest possible distance.
Coach Kusubashi, who was also watching from the sidelines, gasped: "That ball.."
Given the shortest possible setting distance for a wide set, the fastest one-footed takeoff speed after the Spiker rushed in, combined with an almost absurdly fast arm swing and the shortest possible spike trajectory.
Although it wasn't a Quick Attack, the speed at which the entire attack was completed was already not much different from a Quick Attack.
"I bet they wouldn't be able to react at all the first time they face it." Kiryu also nodded.
Especially since the Inubushi Higashi Libero had just played it safe by staying in the center; Hinata's straight shot down the sideline was simply too lethal.
Miya Atsumu raised his hand to high-five Hinata: "Nice play, Shoyo!"
Watching Hinata go to serve, Miya Atsumu suddenly felt his hands going numb.
He had originally intended to give Hinata a normal set at Position 2, but he didn't expect Hinata to maintain the approach rhythm of a standard Quick Attack and jump off one foot to reach that position.