What a great serve!
Koldorf serves, Agatsuma Soushi rotates to the front row.
No longer having to face Hinata, Koldorf felt exceptionally relaxed, which even improved the quality of his serves significantly.
Miya Osamu slightly bent his knees and received the ball.
Miya Atsumu quickly moved forward, raising his hands to set the ball to Suna, who was shifting toward the other side.
Suna changed the angle at the moment of his spike, sending the ball crashing down right along the sideline of the court.
With a loud thud, Inamura dove and saved the ball: "Iizuna!"
As the ball dropped into Position 2, Hinata immediately retreated, preparing for the follow-up defense.
Agatsuma Soushi didn't look at him, instead casting his gaze toward Suna Rintaro on the other side.
"Give me the ball!" Amatori Toru shouted, calling for the ball.
Inaramura's set wasn't particularly good, leaving Iizuna little time to organize the attack, so he could only send the ball toward Amatori, who was his most reliable option.
The power of Itachiyama's heavy artillery was quite terrifying, smashing directly through Suna Rintaro and Miya Atsumu's block and landing out of bounds.
Miya Osamu, who had chased after it, jumped after rounding the coach's bench and sent a back set back into the court.
Great save!
Miya Atsumu kept up, his body leaning slightly back, seemingly intending to give the ball to Suna, who had already rushed to Position 2 preparing for a Flat Quick Attack.
Following Hinata toward Position 4, Agatsuma watched Suna's movements out of the corner of his eye.
No, the timing was wrong.
Suna's timing at this stage was terrible; it would be impossible for Miya Atsumu to give Suna a high ball at this rhythm. If he were to set a high arc to time Suna's spike, he would inevitably be caught by a triple block, making it completely worthless.
Thinking of this, Agatsuma didn't hesitate to leap toward the Position 2 marker on one foot.
The next second, Hinata leaped.
The volleyball flew toward him, landing exactly at Hinata's hitting point, perfectly placed—a set that pursued precision down to the millimeter.
In the shadow cast from the opposite side, Hinata froze for a moment.
Agatsuma seemed to jump earlier than ever before, even without waiting to see the ball, having already moved in sync as he prepared to jump.
But this didn't affect Hinata's spike; instead, Agatsuma's premature jump gave Hinata a chance to tool the block.
With a loud bang, Hinata precisely spiked the ball right off Agatsuma's fingers.
The controlled angle caused the volleyball to instantly bounce toward the second-floor stands, giving Komori no chance to save it at all.
Nice kill!!
Shoyo, Shoyo, that was a great hit! One more!
Staring at Hinata, who was falling right before my eyes, Agatsuma suddenly felt a strange sense of relaxation wash over him.
He thought..
He had probably already figured out Hinata's movement logic.
The moment he landed, Agatsuma turned his head toward Iizuna, signaling to him with his eyes.
Iizuna understood the signal and signaled for a time-out directly to the Head Coach, bypassing the coach, using up Iitachiyama's last time-out of the set.
"What's going on? What's happening?" Amatori was completely out of sync with the other two, looking blankly at Agatsuma, who was gesturing something to Iizuna.
Watching Agatsuma gesture for so long, Iizuna let his mind go blank.
Sakusa glanced at Hinata on the other side of the net and said, "Hinata usually chooses an attacking point in the opposite direction of Miya Osamu and Suna Rintaro. If it's a quick attack at Position 3, Miya Atsumu will use hand signals in advance."
Although I don't know what kind of hand signal it was, Miya Atsumu's directing behavior certainly served to divert their gaze.
Agatsuma nodded, "Right, also.. the short diagonal."
Sakusa's expression remained unchanged. "If Hinata is going to use a short diagonal combined with a quick attack, his initial approach direction can be seen."
Just like before at Shiratorizawa, Hinata used to struggle with his back-row attacks not being straight enough, at that time, they had adjusted the issue of his initial approach together.
—It's just the reverse of how it was before.
Iizuna quickly received the signal: "I think I understand."
If Agatsuma goes after Hinata alone, it often results in a one-on-one block.
Although there are times when they manage to block the ball, most of the time they simply let it pass, serving only to limit the attack, many times they are even tooled by Hinata.
To completely shut down Hinata, the other blockers must quickly follow up once Agatsuma has locked onto him. However, they do not possess the same explosive power as Agatsuma and Hinata; even if they can be half a beat slower, it is far from enough.
Therefore, on top of Agatsuma marking Hinata, they also need to carefully observe Hinata's movements to complete the process of joining the block.
Agatsuma meant that.. they could deduce Hinata's movement logic from the actions of others.
But this difficulty was not ordinary; in fact, there were even more points to observe, since not everyone was an intuitive creature.
"Actually, judging solely by his tactical execution, he's quite obedient," Iizuna said while wiping his face with a towel.
He did indeed take the initiative to direct a couple of times when playing against Karasuno, but he was mostly just adjusting his own rhythm, most of the time, he just followed Miya Atsumu's lead.
Iizuna concluded, "Actually, theoretically speaking.. we only need to guess what Miya Atsumu is going to do."
Sakusa let out a soft breath and adjusted his breathing: "That's exactly why he's so hard to predict."
Many times, Miya Atsumu's thoughts are nothing short of wild, combined with his own exquisite technique, his movements are even harder to predict.
Therefore, in previous matches, their defensive logic was to observe the Spikers' movements and reverse-engineer Miya Atsumu's thoughts.
But now, Inarizaki's tactical execution is so fast that they simply cannot keep up.
Now, they not only had to deduce Miya Atsumu's movements through Aran and the others, but they also had to deduce Hinata Shoyo and Miya Osamu's quick attacks through Miya Atsumu..
Iizuna sighed, "So I'm saying it's only theoretical.."
Koldorf, however, took it to heart and replied seriously, "I will do my best to observe."
Iizuna was left speechless and could only pat his back with earnest words, "Good luck."
Amatori Toru, who had been listening silently all along, rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful.
He felt that Agatsuma might not have meant that, but rather something much simpler..
Komori felt a chill run down his spine, as if something bad had happened in that instant.
But it wasn't until the next rotation, as the set was nearing its end, that Amatori finally caught a hint of what was happening.
"I've got it!" Akagi lowered his center of gravity to receive Koldorf's serve, lifting the ball toward Miya Atsumu's head.
Miya Atsumu's gaze swept across Agatsuma and Amatori on the other side of the net, he decisively abandoned the idea of setting the ball to Suna, who was being watched closely by Iizuna.
On the other side, Hinata had already jumped and was preparing for a Quick Attack, while at the same time, Aran moved up from the back row, preparing for a Position 1 staggered attack.
The volleyball left his hands, traveling on a path almost parallel to the floor, delivered right to Hinata's hitting point.
—It was still that incredibly willful toss.
With a heavy thud, he leaped into the air.
In Hinata Shoyo's field of vision were the fingers of Agatsuma Soushi, whom he had become completely familiar with through an entire set of competition.
With his height advantage, as long as Hinata didn't jump to his maximum contact point, Agatsuma would be able to barely touch it.
To avoid the block as much as possible, one must adjust the ball's trajectory to the side to a certain extent.
At the exact moment Hinata spiked the ball toward his left, another pair of hands suddenly appeared in his field of vision, unerringly blocking the ball's path.
Amatori bit his lower lip, his eyes wide and staring, as if he were trying to see right through Hinata.
His face was filled with almost uncontrollable excitement, while simultaneously pressing down with both hands, exerting maximum pressure on Hinata.
Yes, just like this, you only need to confirm one thing: whether Miya Atsumu will set the ball to Suna Rintaro.
As long as it's not the spiker who was taken out individually, the ball will ultimately be sent to Hinata's side; regardless of whether Hinata is the one spiking, the approximate position will be roughly the same.
After all, the net is only nine meters long; even if someone jumps between just two people, they can still restrict certain ball trajectories.
Just leave the back to Komori.
He had one hundred percent confidence in the level of High School's Best Libero.
Moreover, Hinata hadn't rushed to such an exaggerated position at the edge of the net, so.. he caught up.
—A perfect double block.
Bang!
The sound of the volleyball slamming against the floor rang in everyone's ears, leaving even Hinata Shoyo feeling a bit dazed.
The negative-tempo Quick Attack was so unexpected that even Akagi couldn't react in time, completely missing the opportunity for a counterattack.
Hinata landed on the ground, his heart filled with uncertainty and shock.
When did Amatori-senpai catch up? How did he keep up with the speed of his and Agatsuma's movement?
The score on the sidelines jumped to Inarizaki 23:24 Itachiyama. Itachiyama scored consecutive points to take the lead, reaching set point in the first set.
Amatori felt a sense of physical and mental relief; this was the first time in the entire set that they had truly touched the sky where Hinata was.
—Even though luck played a major part.
He looked at Hinata and smiled. "You've been caught, Hinata."
Hinata froze for a moment. Having been turned to the side to look at Miya Atsumu, he turned around to face Amatori head-on, his expression very solemn: "It's okay, I can go faster."
Hearing these words, a question mark appeared above Amatori's head.
What?
Miya Atsumu, who was beside him, lowered his head, unable to stop himself from chuckling secretly.
In their previous physical test data, Hinata's best 50-meter time was 6.08 seconds, directly breaking the previous record held by the Inarizaki track and field team; this performance would be considered exceptional even in a track and field powerhouse like Aobajohsai.
Hinata's short-distance acceleration ability was exactly what Coach Kurosu had seen in him from the very beginning, it can be utilized to its fullest extent on the volleyball court.
"Even if I catch up, I will hit balls that the seniors cannot block, whether it's height or technique," Hinata said softly.
And.. the one who will be standing on the court at the very end will definitely be me.
Iizuna, standing beside him, remained noncommittal.