Watching Miya Atsumu raise his hands in celebration after scoring a point smoothly, Iwaizumi Hajime turned his head toward Oikawa Tooru: "Speaking of serves, shouldn't Kunimi and Kindaichi start practicing their serves as well?"
The routine for new students after enrollment is basically for First Year High Schoolers to focus on team cohesion and practicing fundamentals like receiving; it isn't until Second Year High School that things like jump serves are added to the schedule.
For a school like Inarizaki, the First Year High School students have already practiced almost everything.. You could say it's simply the foundation of a powerhouse.
After all, their first-year students don't have a mandatory requirement to play, so they can spend their time practicing high-difficulty techniques like the Jump Serve.
Even the freshmen at Shiratorizawa were basically all practicing serves.
Seeing that Oikawa Tooru seemed to be thinking about something after hearing that, Iwaizumi Hajime gave a slight nod, gesturing toward Miya Atsumu, who was preparing to deliver the second serve.
"Should we let them try a Jump Float Serve?" Iwaizumi Hajime asked.
Compared to the Ace serve, which has extremely high requirements for one's physical attributes, the Jump Float Serve can compensate through the study of the opponent and the player's own tactical thinking.
Karasuno's server was incredibly annoying during those crucial points; when they played against them before, he almost scored enough points to pull ahead by himself.
Fortunately, Kawarai was quite reliable and held the situation together, ultimately crushing Karasuno in the final set.
“Hmm.. as for Kindaichi, personally, I'd prefer to have him play as the Ace.” Oikawa Tooru stood with his hands on his hips, watching Miya Atsumu stop Inarizaki's cheering once again.
After letting out a scoff, he spoke up directly in the quiet atmosphere: "While I think Kunimi has quite a bit of potential as an Ace, I don't think he'd actually like it himself."
By comparison, a Jump Float Serve might actually suit him better.
However, when it comes to the Jump Float Serve, no one in Aobajohsai is particularly skilled at it right now.
He can do a little, then there's Watari Chikaharu, who can do a tiny bit.
Oikawa Tooru simply waved his hand. "It's up to them. Let Coach Irihatsu arrange it when we get back."
As soon as he finished speaking, Miya Atsumu had already tossed the ball up in the court.
Yaku stared at Miya Atsumu's movement, imperceptibly leaning his body forward.
Although he knew that Miya Atsumu might compress his approach distance to use a Jump Float Serve motion to deliver a Power Serve.
But.. his proficiency must be low; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to keep using regular Jump Float Serves while maintaining a four-step approach throughout these two sets.
Miya Atsumu, who had been staring intently at Yaku's movements, felt his pupils contract. After stepping up and jumping from the baseline, he successfully used his arms to drive his body's motion, the height he reached was far greater than when he was performing a spike float serve earlier.
In the next second, his palm wrapped around the volleyball itself, with a twist of his wrist, he directly imparted a spin to the ball toward the right side.
Yaku almost stopped his body's movement in an instant, forcing his back heel to land again.
This guy.. did he see his previous movement!
The volleyball traveled across the entire length of the Inarizaki court almost instantly, flying past the outside of the Inarizaki Position 2 marker with incredible spin, tracing an incredibly absurd arc.
Yaku's eyes widened.
His brain, which had gone momentarily blank due to Miya Atsumu's sudden change in his serve motion, inexplicably became completely calm in this instant.
The trajectory of the ball in his field of vision was incredibly clear, the most standard Banana Ball technique.
Yaku was not unfamiliar with it, and.. he was incredibly familiar with it.
“I'll receive it!”
He shouted out directly, then took a step forward and slightly raised his wrist, letting his entire arm form a curved shape.
With a bang, the volleyball hit his arm and then flew up toward the ceiling.
Oikawa Tooru held his hands up in front of his eyes, shielding himself from the somewhat dazzling light of the gymnasium's ceiling: "Whoa, it's really high."
Yaku-senpai's posture was the most standard movement for receiving a ball with such intense spin.
By using a crescent-shaped motion to cradle the ball itself, you ensure that the volleyball hits a flat surface on the arms, allowing the ball to bounce upward vertically.
The only downside to this receiving method is that it can only be used to dampen the spin itself.
The height of the bounce is affected by the server's own power, making it very likely to bounce extremely high, just like right now.
For a setter, there is no difference between receiving a Ceiling Serve.
Sakusa frowned. "Miya Atsumu's strength training results are very obvious; one should be more careful of his power serve."
You have to realize that when playing against Nekoma, Yaku's receives wouldn't have this kind of effect against his serves.
Combined with the fact that he had lost the arm wrestling match to Miya Atsumu earlier, it was pretty much certain that Miya Atsumu had put a lot of work into his strength.
Watching Kenma move into position to deliver a low set, a smile couldn't help but spread across Miya Atsumu's face.
See, not just anyone can pull off a set like that.
At the very least, this Nekoma setter is far, far inferior to him in this regard.
In short, he is the best.
The speed of a bump is inherently lower than that of a set, it is also incapable of providing any cover for a fake.
Suna and Miya Osamu almost instantly locked onto Yamamoto Takeo, who was preparing to execute a powerful spike from Position 4.
Hinata had also taken a step back, retreating to a position slightly further back on the blocking side.
Suna and Miya Osamu had essentially blocked off the diagonal spike route, leaving him with only the straight path directly in front of him.
Yamamoto frowned, momentarily unsure of what to do.
To be honest, based on their current overall strategy, the best way to play would be to find a way to tap the ball lightly toward Miya Atsumu.
But.. he felt a strange sense of unwillingness.
The path for a straight spike was so clear before him, as if it were luring him, constantly suggesting that he should put all his strength into a spike toward that spot.
He is the Ace of Nekoma—
Meeting Yamamoto Takeo's gaze, Suna's gaze was calm and indifferent.
Spike it.
Beneath the Iron Wall, that is the only way out.
He was just waiting right here..
Hinata, who had shrunk himself behind the block, also inconspicuously moved half a step toward the sideline, ready to reach out and receive the ball at any moment.
Yamamoto Takeo was making a frantic calculation in his mind.
He knew, of course, he knew that this lure to draw the enemy deep was a trap.
But as an Ace, he had the confidence to spike this ball to death, ensuring it would absolutely not be received by his opponent.
Aho.
A soft call suddenly appeared in Yamamoto's ears, like a bucket of cold water being poured over him, causing him to become completely calm.
Gritting his teeth, Yamamoto's gaze quickly shifted away from Suna, turning toward his and Miya Osamu's arms.
After the loud impact, the volleyball fell into the Nekoma court behind him.
"Rebound!" Akagi shouted.
Miya Atsumu gave a light click of his tongue.
Those Nekoma members.. they're almost cruelly rational, actually being able to hold back even with an opportunity like this.
Hinata blinked after his failed attempt to bait them.
He seemed to be a bit too conspicuous; the opponents weren't taking the bait at all..
Watching the Nekoma members prepare to reorganize their offense, Hinata's mind went blank.
Why was Yaku-senpai able to set up plays so silently?
Was his own hair color too obvious? Should he perhaps dye his hair a lighter color like Yaku-senpai when he gets older?
"Aho!" Kenma sent the ball to Yamamoto once again.
This time it was a very standard overhead set, with both the speed and height of the ball being perfectly on point.
And Yamamoto did not let Kenma's set go to waste, instantly locking onto Hinata, who had moved to the back row and was sneakily adjusting his position.
A heavy thud rang out as the volleyball whistled past Suna's arm and slammed directly down in front of Hinata.
The trajectory of this ball was completely unshielded, Hinata adjusted his movement almost immediately.
For this kind of spike, you have to stabilize your center of gravity, then..
With a loud thud, Hinata felt as if something terrifying had slammed into his arm.
Before he could even react, the volleyball had already bounced up, hurtling toward his face.
Only when the body performs a continuous contact during a single movement during a First Receive is it not considered a double hit, but in this situation, if this ball actually hits his face, it will be called a double hit.
With an almost instinctive dive to the side, Hinata narrowly avoided the ball.
"I've got it!" Aran leaped up from the back row with a thud, after catching the ball's position, he used one hand to push it back toward the front.
“Nice one, Aran!” Miya Osamu couldn't help but praise him.
He quickly followed up, raising his hand to lightly tap the ball toward Kenma's position.
Hinata struggled to get up from the ground, preparing for the next round of offense and defense.
Damn, his preparation for the receive this time was excellent!
"Dammit! Just a little bit off!" Coach Inubata clutched his head in the stands.
Hinata's strength was far inferior to Yamamoto's, since Hinata was not yet proficient enough at this stage to master the technique of absorbing impact, it was perfectly normal for him to fail to receive the ball.
But compared to before, Hinata's receiving skills could be said to have made significant progress.
At the very least.. the ball flew within a range that his teammates could save.
But there was no time to dwell on it; the Nekoma side was already preparing to attack once again.
It was once again a perfect receive, sent steadily right to Kenma's head.
Yamamoto raised his hand again, calling for the ball: "Kenma! Give me the ball!!"
He simply refused to believe he wouldn't be able to score!
Such a great opportunity on the last play, it was actually interrupted by that little brat!
Kenma jumped in place, preparing to set the ball.
The moment his hands were about to touch the ball, he glanced back toward the direction of Yamamoto and Kai.