Aran clapped his hands. "Don't worry about it."
There's nothing to be done about it; you can only say the opposing team was quite lucky.
Hanae was bathed in everyone's praise, the corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily.
Luck is also a part of one's skill!
Chapter 168: The One Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Fox
This guy is completely hopeless.
Oikawa Tooru, standing by the sidelines, was being sarcastic; for High School's strongest server, having a service turn interrupted by a single point was far too embarrassing.
Iwaizumi Hajime, finally unable to hold it in, spoke up: "It's not like you haven't done that before. When you played against Karasuno, didn't you lose a point in the last set because that Libero received the serve and launched a counterattack?"
There was even that time when a serve went out of bounds and gave Shiratorizawa a point directly.
Oikawa Tooru protested, "Iwa-chan! That was an accident! An accident!"
Not every power jump serve is successful; even in professional matches, it's not uncommon for a serve to hit a teammate in the back of the head.
He just served it out of bounds! Just that!
"Hmph." Iwaizumi Hajime crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to pay any more attention to Oikawa Tooru.
Wakamura serves in the court.
Last time, he chose a net serve to target Hinata, but this time he changed his target, locking onto Suna in the center.
Although he can't say for certain, based on these last few plays, Hinata's receiving skills have become significantly stronger than they were during the National Sports Festival.
Therefore, at this stage, if one wants to disrupt Inarizaki's rhythm, the best target is the only Middle Blocker on the court, Suna.
As it turned out, Yura Shota's choice this time was very correct.
The volleyball suddenly dropping after brushing the net left Suna a bit flustered; his overhead setting wasn't used very frequently, so he instinctively opted for an underhand bump.
But without actively applying any force with his forearms, he couldn't get the ball to rise at all.
I'll do it, I'll do it!
Hinata, who was nearby, spoke up, taking advantage of his height advantage, raised his hands to deliver an overhead set.
This set was directed to a high point behind Position 4; although there was no cover, it reached the most comfortable height and distance for the Ace.
He left the rest alone, trusting that Aran-senpai and the others could spike through a three-man block on their own.
—Aran said he couldn't do it.
But being unable to spike through the block doesn't mean he can't spike; in this situation, the greatest advantage of a back-row attack is that the field of vision is wide enough, the options for ball trajectories are numerous.
Aran hit a short diagonal with a backhand, precisely grazing the front of the block and pinning the ball in the front court near the sideline.
Hanae dove again from the back row in an attempt to save the ball, but he didn't even touch the edge of it.
Inarizaki's absolute ace landed with a thud, turning his body and bending his knees to absorb the impact.
He raised both hands high: "Yes!!"
"Aran-senpai!" Hinata rushed over, blinking his eyes.
Aran did not high-five him, but instead reached under his arm and lifted him up. "That was amazing! Shoyo!"
Hinata, with his feet off the ground, was clearly stunned for a moment; he felt as if Aran-senpai was about to toss him into the air.
Fortunately, Aran still had his senses about him and didn't perform such a dangerous move.
Landing on the ground again, Hinata raised his hand once more to signal for a high five.
Aran also slapped it heavily.
Aran-senpai is the most handsome man in the universe!
Shoyo's pass was great!
Watching the two of them praising each other, Miya Atsumu fell silent for a few seconds before finally locking his gaze on Suna: "At least give it a bit higher."
That set was.. at least give me a decent set.
Suna refused to be criticized by Miya Atsumu: "Isn't Shoyo's set pretty good?"
Facing Suna's gaze that was filled with "you're no good," Atsumu's expression contorted.
Of course he could set, he could even set a Quick Attack.
But Hinata Shoyo was there for that last play, since Hinata Shoyo had actively signaled, he didn't need to perform any extreme maneuvers.
But that was no excuse for Suna to give a blind first receive!
Wakamura clicked his tongue. "Inarizaki is really tough."
To be honest, he had spent a long time thinking during his serve, but he found that Inarizaki's first receive had no obvious openings.
Not to mention the Libero; Aran and Miya Osamu aren't easy to break through, either.
Kenma sat in the stands with his chin resting in both hands: "Shoyo's setting is very good."
Because he knew he couldn't do any better, he simply did his best within his own limits.
Simplify the setting process, making it high enough and providing a wide enough field of vision.
However.. this was also a sign of absolute trust in the Ace.
"Shoyo, give them a great spike!" the Inarizaki Brass Band cheered for Hinata.
Hinata didn't make any specific requests regarding the cheering, but they analyzed the usual performance of the first-year players and concluded that only Kumagai needed quiet space for thought.
Rishia and Hinata both love the sound of cheering and encouragement.
Glancing at the defensive positioning of Municipal Kobe's back row, Hinata keenly noticed that the opponent seemed to be providing even better protection for their setter.
It wasn't the previous formation where the setter was positioned behind the libero; instead, the setter moved as far forward as possible, while the spiker in Position 4 moved backward to cover the defense.
In essence, volleyball receiving positions only involve the two adjacent people; there is no positional relationship between Wakamura in Position 1 and Kanzaki in Position 4.
Therefore, in terms of lateral positioning, Wakamura can stand further forward than Kanzaki.
It would be extremely difficult for Municipal Kobe to target the Setter with a power serve from their current positioning, especially since Hinata cannot perform a jump float serve.
And Hinata, who usually targeted the setter with his serves, thought seriously for a moment before ultimately locking his target on Kanzaki.
If I can't hit the setter, then I'll hit the Ace.
As long as it can disrupt the opponent's attack, any kind of serve will do.
The consequence of overthinking was nearly a service violation.
However, Hinata still managed to toss the ball up just in time in the final second, making Coach Kurosu break into a cold sweat for him.
Although Hinata's serve cannot yet produce the beautiful spin that Miya Atsumu produces, nor the extreme power of Aran, his control over the ball's landing spot is currently very accurate.
The volleyball slammed down in front of Kanzaki.
Kanzaki took a half-step back, lowering his center of gravity to receive the ball: "Wakamura-senpai!"
Receiving is a mandatory skill for a spiker, even if he doesn't get many chances to receive the ball normally.
“What a great set!” Wakamura shouted, raising his hand to send the ball toward Kanzaki, who was regaining his footing after the receive.
This set was also very high, maintaining a state that allowed Kanzaki to spike it with an overhand reach.
But this time, Suna didn't avoid it; after all, the spike was delivered from the front row this time, so the risk of breaking a finger wasn't as high.
Moreover, they had a three-man block this time, so his pressure was correspondingly a bit lighter.
Touch!
The volleyball flew high into the air, landing toward the Inarizaki backcourt.
After landing from the block, Suna quickly placed his hands behind his back and made two consecutive hand signals.
Miya Atsumu, who had moved to the other side to take a setting position, clearly froze for a moment when he saw it, the people in the back row were also more or less surprised.
Akagi raised his hands and sent the ball up steadily.
Staring at the volleyball falling from above, Miya Atsumu simultaneously used his peripheral vision to look at Hinata, who was running halfway across the court behind him, and.. Suna, who had retreated behind the center.
Aran shouted for the set, "Give me the ball!!"
Murata took a step to the left following Aran, while Kanzaki waited with Tosaka for the setter to set the ball.
With the light sound of fingers making contact with the volleyball, Miya Atsumu sent the ball out in a perfect set.
The set was quite high, but.. it wasn't intended for the Ace, who currently held the best position.
Wakamura's pupils contracted in the back row of Municipal Kobe.
—This is a very standard middle blocker high ball to Position 3.
Having created enough distance for a running approach, Suna jumped up with a thud.
His height was already top-tier within Inarizaki; although he usually used it to play deceptive spikes against the block, it didn't mean he couldn't perform this kind of high-reaching high ball.
Positioning himself completely above Kanzaki, Suna performed a fake spike toward the line.
After Hanae subconsciously took a step forward, he twisted his wrist and performed a backhand spike, sending the ball toward the sidelines on Higashiyama's side.
Higashiyama reacted quickly, immediately crouching down to try and receive the ball. However, due to his unstable center of gravity, he was knocked to the ground by the ball.
The ball's trajectory shifted because of this, flying away almost skimming the ground.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scores.
As it landed on the floor, Suna looked back at Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu didn't say anything, just staring back at Suna.
Meanwhile, Hinata on the other side had already started cheering: "Suna-senpai is amazing!"
Isn't this the second form of the decoy!
Suna-senpai's play was truly effortless, not even a little bit like his clumsy self.
".." Kuroo was speechless in the stands.