Including Miya Osamu, who was receiving the ball, the three front-row spikers had all taken their positions, leaving Akagi and Hinata to handle the counterattack.
Suna's spike changed direction, smashing down on the other side of the block.
But Hanae was in position in time to cover, sending the ball up and delivering it steadily near the attack line.
"Nice receive!" Wakamura praised.
Kanzaki raised his hand to call for the ball: "Give me the ball!!"
After giving a deceptive look as if preparing to set the ball to Kanzaki in Position 4, Wakamura sent the ball to Tosaka, who was behind him.
Tosaka made a set for a quick attack after receiving the ball, but Suna, whose reaction speed was equally fast, followed almost instantly, creating distance and successfully making contact with the ball.
Touch!
"Good touch!" Akagi reached out, signaling that he would take the ball.
Miya Atsumu, having taken his position once again, lowered his center of gravity and prepared to set the ball.
At the same time, Suna and Miya Osamu also began running quick attacks toward Position 2 and Position 3 according to his recent arrangement.
Municipal Kobe's blockers were on high alert.
The moment the volleyball left his hands, they lunged toward Position 2.
Unfortunately, Miya Atsumu's target for this set was not Miya Osamu, who was performing a Flat Quick Attack at Position 2, but Hinata, who was jumping up behind him to perform a Back-row attack from Position 1.
Hinata, having jumped high enough, completely outleaped the opponent's block, which failed to follow him fully, smashed the volleyball at the shortest possible distance toward the three-meter line of Municipal Kobe's front row.
Hanae dove in with a diving save, sending the ball back up with one hand: "Captain!!"
"Nice receive!" Wakamura followed up once again.
This time, the Ace Kanzaki was in great form, Wakamura decisively chose to trust him, delivering a high ball to Position 4.
The moment Suna and Miya Osamu sensed their opponent's intention, they both moved to create distance from the net.
Kamiya stared straight ahead, watching the Inarizaki block lean slightly backward in his field of vision, creating a flat plane.
He's planning to give up on the pressure and just go for a touch..
Kanzaki had no intention of letting the opponent have it his way.
He adjusted the angle of the ball he had originally prepared to spike straight into Inarizaki's backcourt almost immediately, sending it directly toward Suna's hands.
Two heavy thuds rang out in succession, the volleyball flew out of bounds at an extremely high speed.
Akagi and Hinata rushed out at the same time, ultimately Akagi sent the ball back with one hand.
Atsumu! Please!
The moment he realized Akagi could save it, Hinata gave up on chasing the ball and turned back toward the court, preparing for the subsequent counterattack.
"Osamu!" Miya Atsumu raised his hand and sent a back set.
This ball from Akagi was quite skewed; he actually didn't quite dare to call for Suna, who was being marked on the other side.
When it comes solely to breaking through a defense, Miya Osamu's performance in Inarizaki is second only to Aran and Ginjima.
Even against the opponent's two-man block, there is an extremely high probability of breaking through.
Even when the receive was out of position, Miya Atsumu's movement was still very conspicuous.
Over here, Tosaka and Kanzaki rushed straight toward them, jumping simultaneously with the Inarizaki's Position 3.5 as Miya Osamu leaped, pressing down to prepare for a block.
Miya Osamu's gaze swept across the two people's hands in an instant, locking onto Kanzaki's slightly delayed hand, he spiked the ball down.
This angle wasn't great; he wanted to try using the block or playing a rebound to try again.
With a loud thud, the ball hit the block, bounced upward, then flew straight out past the boundary pole.
Seeing the trajectory of the ball the moment it landed, Kuroo in the stands felt a slight sense of regret: "The block went out."
What a shame, the advantage we fought so hard to gain through offensive pressure.. it's such a pity it went out of bounds..
But in the very next second, a foot reached out from under the net, precisely sliding under the ball.
With a loud thud, the sound of the volleyball hitting the shinbone rang out clearly.
Immediately after, the ball flew high into the air, flying back toward the Municipal Kobe side.
The whole process happened at an incredibly high speed; neither the ball nor the lunging Hanae ever touched the Inarizaki court.
"Beautiful!!" Wakamura shouted, stepping forward quickly to the edge of the court and setting the ball back to the net.
Lev, who had been watching in a daze, suddenly jumped up. "Huh? Is that even allowed?!"
The ball was received right over the net!
Yaku nodded: "Yeah, it was good luck. Neither the ball nor the player crossed into the opponent's court, so it could be received."
That was pure luck; Miya Osamu's ball was deflected directly by the block, sending it flying outside the sideline.
Tosaka hit the ball with a backhand spike, precisely hooking it toward the sideline of the Inarizaki court.
Akagi, who was a bit far away, couldn't keep up with this ball and could only watch helplessly as it slammed onto the floor.
The whistle blew, the referee signaled it in. Municipal Kobe scored.
In an instant, thunderous applause and enthusiastic cheers erupted from the side of Municipal Kobe.
That was incredible! Akari!
You actually managed to dig that? Superwoman Akari!
Hanae Akari stood tall with her head held high: "Play with confidence, I've got your back!"
As long as the ball hasn't flown into outer space, he will go and save it.
Miya Atsumu's expression wasn't very pleasant: "Is this the confidence of a top-tier Libero.."
Aran, the vice-captain, clapped his hands. "Don't worry about it, don't worry about it. Next ball."
This kind of ball is almost impossible to replicate; it was pure luck.
Hinata sighed with admiration, "So cool."
Not only Kanzaki, who launched multiple powerful attacks, but also Hanae, who served as the defensive barrier, were both incredibly cool.
Miya Atsumu didn't even look back: "It's fine, you'll be even cooler than them in a bit."
Chapter 170: The 170th Fox
Long rallies are truly terrifying..
Kuroo raised his hand to cover the lower part of his face, masking his unpleasant expression.
The second set has progressed to this point, the score has only just reached Inarizaki 0:1 Municipal Kobe, with the very first point taking this long to resolve.
The winner of this match will be their opponents tomorrow morning, as it stands.. neither side actually has any obvious weaknesses.
In fact, even their weak points aren't much of an issue compared to the slightly weaker teams.
In other words, for Nekoma, both of these were actually quite flawless.
“But if we're lucky, Municipal Kobe might be able to at least wear down Miya Atsumu's stamina for a bit,” Yaku said, rubbing his chin. “Generally speaking, if we can exhaust Miya Atsumu, then we'll have a real fight on our hands.”
If everyone in the current Inarizaki were a 10, then Miya Atsumu's role would be the multiplication sign.
If it were any other Setter, it would become a simple addition, the difficulty of dealing with them would visibly decrease.
Kenma also nodded: "Yeah, let's target Miya Atsumu."
The strategy remained the same as before; rather than targeting the spiker performing the attack, the simplest method was to deal with the setter acting as the commander.
Other teams might find themselves unable to do much, but Nekoma is very good at extending rallies, so it might be worth a try.
"Just feel free to give it a bold try, I've got your back." Yaku patted his chest.
Kuroo lowered his eyes and smiled. "How reliable."
On the court, Wakamura was already prepared to serve the second ball. The positioning on Inarizaki's side hadn't changed at all, clearly showing they weren't afraid of being targeted.
But it was true; even in that situation, the previous play had managed to stop the attack, not to mention that the other members of Inarizaki could also perform a set.
Wakamura knew this as well, but he was simply.. gambling on an Inarizaki error.
Even if it was only a tiny bit, for them, it would be a massive opportunity.
Once again, the ball was precisely spiked into the space between Miya Osamu and Hinata, Miya Atsumu also chose to loop around from the other side.
This time, Hinata called out proactively, "I'll take it!"
Tosaka narrowed her eyes.
Although the serve didn't cause an error for Inarizaki, after Miya Atsumu adjusted his positioning, his current position is around the three-to-five position.
If a set is made from this position, as long as it isn't aimed at Position 4, it will inevitably result in a certain degree of back arch; especially if the intention is to set to Suna in Position 2, the movement will become quite obvious.
So.. it wasn't entirely without gain.
He watched Miya Atsumu's movement, at the moment Atsumu's fingers were about to touch the ball, Tosaka locked onto Aran at Position 4.
The Ace's spike from Position 4 is the most threatening weapon, no matter when it is used.
Not daring to delay for even a moment, he quickly signaled Kanzaki and Murata on both sides to come over.
A wall formed by three people stood in front of Aran, acting as a block; Tosaka, serving as a blocker, tensed his body to prevent being sent flying by Aran's powerful spike.
The moment Aran spiked, he leveled his hands.
Touch!
Nice touch!
Hanae breathed a sigh of relief and quickly lunged forward to receive the ball.
After shifting his center of gravity to the side, he precisely received the ball with the side of his arm.
"Wakamura-senpai!" he called out to Wakamura Souya, who had already stepped forward.
Wakamura stared intently at the ball falling from above, raising his hand to set the ball toward the net.
With a thud, Kanzaki leaped in front of the net, maintaining an extremely high contact point once again, prepared to spike after a beautiful arm extension.