Suna and Miya Osamu had already kept pace, lowering their centers of gravity slightly, jumped at the exact moment Kanzaki leaped.
The timing was extremely precise, ensuring that as Kanzaki reached his peak, they also reached their peak at the same time.
But to everyone's surprise, Kanzaki, who had been in excellent form and was absolutely capable of scoring a great spike, did not spike the ball at all.
The volleyball passed through his hitting point, sailing over the net and dropping softly.
Suna's pupils contracted as he prepared to block, but fortunately, Hinata from the back row reacted extremely quickly, already diving toward the ball.
While extending one hand to stretch his entire body, he used his left wrist to make contact with the volleyball.
"Atsumu-senpai!" he shouted, calling out Miya Atsumu's name.
The height of this ball wasn't actually raised, its position couldn't even be called good.
However, in Miya Atsumu's hands, it could indeed play a role that it otherwise absolutely would not have been able to perform.
Staring at the position of the ball, Miya Atsumu, who had originally retreated behind the three-meter line to prepare for a counterattack, took a step back and then two steps forward, lightly leaping into the air.
In the next second, he maintained his setting posture and used a single hand to spike the ball directly toward the opposing side.
Tosaka was completely stunned, but the volleyball had already slammed down on his head, leaving him no time to react.
In the heat of the moment, the closest person, Wakamura, dropped to his knees and used his hands to send the ball up.
Seeing the setter receive the ball, Hanae raised his hand: "I'll take it!"
He positioned himself perfectly, jumping from behind the three-meter line to set the ball.
Although it was quite ordinary, for Kanzaki, it was a fairly good ball.
Height, position, the distance from the net—these were all ways that Kanzaki felt most comfortable.
Since the end of the Regional Qualifiers, Hanae has been determined to practice everything he is not good at.
And when it comes to the setter's back-row setting and the ability to handle serves, Kanzaki has been acting as a training partner.
Because of that.. there would be no issues with the chemistry between the two of them.
"Nice pass," he thought to himself. Without even taking a moment to speak, Kanzaki had already leaped into the air with a thud, his eyes fixed on the ball's position.
“So high..” Oikawa Tooru lamented.
Iwaizumi Hajime's eyebrows twitched slightly as he suddenly noticed that the approach for Municipal Kobe's ace had changed to four steps since the first set.
He had used three steps in both the Regional Qualifiers footage and yesterday's match.
Is this.. something new that Inarizaki has been hiding?
“Four steps again.” Yaku, watching from the stands, also noticed this.
In volleyball matches, long-distance approach runs like this rarely occur; the first time he saw one was during Rishia Heisuke's serve.
It was true that this kind of approach helped increase explosive power, but it wasn't a situation where such distance and timing were available for an approach.
"This is used more in track and field, like high jump or sprinting starts," Kenma said softly.
This means the user would need to change their starting foot, which is very difficult to practice.
If it isn't practiced well, it could even lead to the previous starting method being affected, which in turn would affect the player's own volleyball career.
Therefore, Municipal Kobe's ace also only started practicing after the Regional Qualifiers ended.
"I can only say he's very bold, sufficiently confident and decisive," Kuroo nodded.
To see it, realize that one can actually use it, then quickly decide to start practicing, only to achieve significant results in less than three months.
This is the most perfect combination of vision, courage, innate talent.
Kanzaki scored with a spike.
Watching the score rise to Inarizaki 0:2 Municipal Kobe, Coach Kurosu merely smiled slightly and said nothing.
He truly admired the ace of Municipal Kobe, so.. he would appreciate his own players even more.
From the moment he first saw Oikawa Tooru's serve to the point where he could fully master and execute it on the court, Rishia Heisuke took less time and achieved better results than his opponent.
Thinking of this, Kurosu looked past Kumagai, who was sitting beside him, toward Rishia in the waiting area.
Sensing the coach's faint, sweeping gaze, Rishia Heisuke straightened his posture.
—Is he really going to let him go up and serve?
Although he wasn't sure if he could score ten points, still.. he would do his best.
"The firepower on the other side is intense." Aran also noticed something unusual about the opponents.
Akagi didn't feel much: "It's normal, they're just burning their boats."
When pushed to the brink, one's true strength is often forced out.
However.. in essence, it is also a type of reaction speed and precision forced upward by a sense of urgency, it actually remains within the player's own range of ability.
As long as they know how the opponent plays, there won't be any problems.
—Because they are the stronger side.
After Miya Osamu's quick attack interrupted the opponent's scoring run, the serve passed to Suna.
And Coach Kurosu followed through on what he had said at the beginning, subbing in Kumagai Kuniharu to serve.
Wakamura's expression was extremely unsightly: "Tsk, they really don't want to wait even a single second, Inarizaki."
They didn't even want to endure a single second of disadvantage, immediately subbing in a player to serve on a crucial point to save the situation.
Is this the absolute confidence brought by Inarizaki's bench depth..
The Inarizaki supporters gradually grew quiet, Kumagai spun the ball in his hands, tossing it up in the final second of the time limit.
Kumagai's power serve and jump float serve were actually both far inferior to Miya Atsumu's, but his advantage lay in the fact that from the moment he began practicing Dual Wield, he never made a distinction as to which type of serve was most comfortable in which situation.
For him, the "confusion" inherent in Dual Wield is slightly more significant than the weight of the serve itself.
Hanae stared intently at Kumagai's movements, the moment he saw his jump float serve, he stepped forward and reached out to attempt a touch.
But his reaction speed was still a little slow, he failed to handle the ball perfectly.
The ball flew straight back to Inarizaki.
Hinata spread his arms and shouted, "I'll take it!"
With Akagi-senpai not on the court, he was responsible for the defense.
Even if it was only a split-second opportunity, he could hold his head high and tell the others to leave the back to him.
The volleyball flew steadily, landing just above the Setter's head near the attack line.
Even if it was an opportunity ball for Inarizaki, it didn't mean the ball would be easy to receive.
On the contrary, the ball came in at a very high altitude, under the influence of gravity, its speed was naturally extremely fast.
And Hinata, who was able to neutralize it perfectly.. has already become quite competent when it comes to receiving.
The volleyball was set by Miya Atsumu to Aran, the Ace, in peak form, scored a point directly for Inarizaki with a powerful spike.
Inarizaki scored consecutively, bringing the score to 2:2.
Hinata gave Kumagai a thumbs up: "A perfect ten!"
To tie the score in one breath, that was absolutely incredible!
Kumagai managed a strained smile. "Let's just stick with nine points; give me some room to improve."
—He didn't want to hear the word "ten" right now!
While several seniors were discussing Inarizaki's tactics, Lev blinked and pointed toward Hinata, who was saying something to Kumagai, spoke to Yaku.
Yaku-senpai, has that little guy become even weaker and more inconspicuous?
Yaku was stunned by those words.
Indeed, Hinata's presence in Inarizaki seems to have diminished.
But it wasn't that he had become weaker, as Lev said, but rather..
Because his strength was gradually catching up to the team's average, he was no longer that special one, would also participate in the overall defense and other rotations.
That also means..
—He has become stronger.
Chapter 171: The 171st Fox
Kumagai prepared to serve the second ball.
Hanae forced himself to stabilize his condition, taking a long, deep breath before staring intently at the Inarizaki members across the net.
In terms of serving, Kumagai is actually far less threatening than Miya Atsumu.
As long as he, who is responsible for the first receive, can stabilize the situation, they can carry out a counterattack.
With Inarizaki's Libero currently off the court, as long as they can give the Ace a chance to spike, this point is essentially theirs.
The advantage we worked so hard to gain at the start.. we absolutely cannot let it slip away like this.
The whistle blew, the Inarizaki supporters fell silent once again.
After the teams switched sides, Municipal Kobe was now facing away from the Inarizaki supporters, were much closer than before.
Unlike the match on the Center Court, this feeling of having a sharp knife aimed at their backs, ready to plunge down at any moment.. was quite suffocating.
Kumagai took a deep breath, lowered his gaze to think for a moment, then tossed the ball up.
Taking a quick approach, he jumped and swung his arm to spike the ball, aiming directly for the space between Kanzaki and Higashiyama on the other side.
It isn't very realistic for Municipal Kobe to try a second attack from this positioning, since Hanae's receiving ability has visibly improved, there is less point in continuing to target him.
And that's exactly why his second serve..
After the heavy sound, the volleyball slammed down precisely.
The two from Kobe both took a step toward the center almost simultaneously, but as they realized the other intended to receive it, they both hesitated at the same time.
The next second, both of them shouted at the same time, "I'll take it!"