Looking at the approach space Hinata had left, his eyes lit up. "A jump serve."
Very good. Being able to do a Jump Serve is already quite impressive, considering he's only a first-year in high school.
As the whistle blew, Hinata didn't wait, tossing the ball immediately.
After his approach, he worked hard to control the ball and hit it just in front of Hakuma Mebuki.
Having watched so many of Karasuno's matches, he knew very well that this big guy was just like him, not good at receiving.
Moreover, Atsumu had told him before that in times like this, attacking through the middle yields the best results.
Although Karasuno provided protection for Hakuma's receive, Nozawa, who was acting in that role, did not actually possess the same receiving skills as Kita Shinsuke.
The two players experienced a moment of confusion in their roles, watching helplessly as the ball dropped right between them.
The Inarizaki stands erupted: "Nice play!!"
Great serve, Shoyo! One more—
Hakuma and Nozawa looked at each other.
Coach Aran, standing by the sidelines, raised a hand to his mouth: "Shout it out, stop staring at each other."
Hinata, who had scored a point with his serve, was still raising his hands and cheering, "Coach, did you see that! I scored a point with my serve!"
Heisuke! Atsumu-senpai! I scored a point with my serve!
Everyone in the waiting area gave a thumbs up at the same time: "Nice play."
Chapter 91: The Ninety-First Fox
Intense gazes came from their sides. Hakuma and Nozawa, who were still arguing and shifting the blame onto each other, turned their heads simultaneously, meeting Hoshiumi's protesting expression.
Libero Kamibayashi gave up and simply clapped his hands: "My bad, my bad. From now on, I'll receive everything in the middle."
Hoshiumi's expression twisted even further.
Receive my foot! This ball has absolutely nothing to do with the Libero!
It was clearly Hakuma's fault, that two-meter rookie; he actually needed someone else's help to receive a ball like that.
Hinata is better than him! Way better!
After the Karasuno members finished staring each other down, Hinata, on the other side of the net, was already prepared to serve the next ball.
Shoyo, serve a good one!
Hinata, his confidence greatly increased, gave a small smirk, patted the ball against the floor, prepared to serve.
Over at Karasuno, they adjusted the back row positioning, pushing Hakuma further to the edge to allow Nozawa to lead the defense for half the court.
And Hinata's expression, which had been full of smiles, suddenly vanished as his gaze swept to the other side, turning as bitter as a bitter melon.
The Libero and Hoshiumi-senpai certainly wouldn't give him any room to serve, Hakuma was clearly playing strict defense as well, leaving him no openings at all.
The whistle blew in his ear, startling Hinata, who was still seriously contemplating how to serve, causing him to almost lose his grip on the ball.
Suddenly, as his gaze swept across the relatively empty front court of Karasuno, a flash of inspiration struck Hinata's mind.
That's right! There's that method too!
Regaining his confidence, Hinata tossed the ball up and moved forward with it at the same time.
Rishia Heisuke, watching from the sidelines, instantly sensed something was wrong. "Huh? Did Hinata throw that ball a bit too low?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Hinata, who didn't jump quite that high, raised his hand to wrap around the upper part of the volleyball, spiking it with just the right amount of force.
After a soft sound, the volleyball grazed over the top of Miya Atsumu's head and slammed into the top edge of the net.
The people over at Karasuno were startled, the others behind them immediately lunged forward.
But they had only dove halfway when they gradually stopped their movements, simultaneously wearing somewhat strange expressions.
The volleyball fought against gravity, lingering for a moment along the top of the net before suddenly tilting and dropping straight back down onto Inarizaki's side.
Below, Miya Atsumu had been watching the frantic diving over at Karasuno with a smile on his face, but the next second, he felt something strike him on the top of his head.
Miya Atsumu felt like his hairstyle was completely ruined, while simultaneously wondering in confusion what had hit him.
“Eh?”
The whistle blew for the second time in his ears. Miya Atsumu turned his head and saw the head referee raise his hand to signal a score for Karasuno.
The volleyball rolled to a stop at his feet, silently testifying to what had just occurred.
Miya Atsumu turned his head stiffly, only to see Hinata already in a dogeza position.
On the other side, Aran reached out and gave Miya Atsumu a big thumbs up.
Suna let out a slight, regretful click of his tongue, across the net, Hoshiumi looked at Miya Atsumu with the same expression.
But it didn't matter; national-level tournaments always have official recordings, one could simply go to the website later to download high-definition videos filmed from several different camera angles.
Komori clapped in the stands: "Wow, so accurate, it landed right in the middle."
A light chuckle also escaped from beneath Sakusa-senpai's mask: "This time, it's the live version."
Unabara and Coach Hiya both fell into silence by the sidelines, the excitement that had just ignited being doused by a bucket of cold water.
Coach Hiya pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose: "Hmm, the future looks promising."
The purpose of the Junior National Team's training camp is to discover the players' potential and explore their possibilities in various fields; it is not a basic skills training camp, so the players sent here are not expected to have issues with their fundamentals.
But it wasn't a big problem; Hakuma Mebuki had been on their watchlist since his debut last year, even if his strength isn't sufficient at this stage, they will continue to follow him.
Listening to Hinata and Miya Atsumu wailing together in the court, Unabara Uta felt a bit of a headache: "A substitute, just a substitute. I'll put him together with Suna and observe him a bit more.."
Anyway, they weren't in a hurry; there would be plenty of opportunities for these little guys once they graduated or joined professional teams.
"I'm sorry, Atsumu-senpai! I didn't do it on purpose!" Hinata apologized sincerely.
"Little Shoyo! My hair that I spent all morning styling—" Miya Atsumu wailed at the hair that had turned into a bird's nest after he had subconsciously rubbed it twice.
Before the head referee could lose his temper, Kita Shinsuke suppressed Hinata Shoyo and Miya Atsumu with an extremely forceful attitude, making them behave and stop their quarreling.
Kumagai rubbed the back of his head: "Being a setter for Shoyo.. the requirement for resilience is still very high."
Rishia looked at him silently. "Is that some kind of advice from someone with experience?"
Unabara Uta laughed, "You're still stronger, Akuma."
Under the sympathetic gazes of his seniors, Kumagai fell silent, his face turning pale.
Karasuno's Nozawa is preparing to serve.
Hinata moving to the back row is good news for Karasuno.
First, Hinata Shoyo's receive level is average, making him easy to target. Second, compared to the various flat quick attacks from the front row, the back row attacking pattern is much more monotonous.
Theoretically speaking, when the opponent's Ace Opposite moves to the back row and our Ace Spiker returns to Position 4 in the front row, that would be the perfect opportunity for Karasuno to claw back the score.
But.. that's only in theory.
Hoshiumi glanced at Suna, who had moved slightly closer to him, gave up on the idea of using a timing difference to tool the block.
Although Suna's blocking height wasn't that great, his sense of timing and ability to read people were in a league of their own; any feints would likely have the opposite effect.
—At this moment, the best choice is indeed to simply crush them with height.
Suwa raised his hand to set the ball above Hoshiumi's head, Hoshiumi, who had already jumped from Position 4, hit the ball at an extremely high point, causing Suna to instantly lose the chance to block.
Suna, who hadn't jumped at all, narrowed his eyes.
This height.. he'd need to grow another thirty centimeters to block it.
Hinata stepped back two steps and tried to reach out to save the ball, but he was slammed straight to the ground by Hoshiumi's full-power spike.
On the other side, Kita Shinsuke rushed out immediately, attempting to save the ball.
Unfortunately, the ball was too fast; even though Kita eventually dove to chase it, he couldn't save it.
The moment he rotated to the front row, Karasuno's Little Giant bared his fangs once again.
By the sidelines, Unabara was momentarily at a loss for words.
He felt his head ache even more: "Did Suna not jump just now? Did he simply give up on the block because he knew the opponent could definitely hit over him?"
Coach Hiya chuckled along, saying nothing more.
It's just Suna's personality.. that's why he has remained on the substitute list without becoming a regular.
Coach Kurosu shouted loudly from the coaching bench, "Shoyo! Even if you have to shift your center of gravity backward, you must lean forward!"
If you aren't sure, take the initiative and use a diving save for the back reception; don't worry too much about where the ball will land!
Generally speaking, it wouldn't be like that, but they have Miya Atsumu, so they don't need to worry about so much.
Just keep practicing hard from now on, one day you'll be able to catch up.
Hinata scrambled up from the ground: "Yes! I'll keep that in mind!"
Hoshiumi stared intensely at Hinata: "Just remembering it isn't enough; you have to actually receive it."
Inarizaki's weakness lies right here; it would be a shame not to exploit it.
Even if Akagi next to him intended to help Hinata receive the ball, Hoshiumi's spikes were placed so刁钻ly, mostly aimed near the corners, forcing Hinata to move for every single one.
Although the ball's speed and spin weren't as intense as those of the Three Major Spikers, they were still enough to leave Hinata struggling to keep up.
If Inarizaki's Setter were not Miya Atsumu, it is very likely that the overall coordination would have run into problems several times.
Hoshiumi, who had scored with a high ball from Position 3, glanced at Miya Atsumu out of the corner of his eye, casting a provocative look.
Miya Atsumu frowned, but he said nothing.
They said it was aimed at Hinata.. but it was actually aimed at him, wasn't it?
Coach Kurosu, standing by the sidelines, also sensed that something was wrong.
This style of play, which ties down the back-row spikers, isn't actually that effective; after all, they could simply give up on Hinata's back-row attacks and let Aran or Suna score from the front.
Moreover, Hinata's own physical stamina is quite substantial; he is not the type who can be worn down in a short amount of time.
If they keep playing like this.. the first one to run into trouble might be Miya Atsumu, who has been constantly playing damage control.