Gone bad!
Shoyo has completely learned bad habits from Heisuke!
Looking at the faces of the Ichibayashi members opposite him, Kumagai's mind went blank.
Wait, it seems like.. even one-third is quite impressive.
The expression of confusion that was once there instantly turned into one of determination.
After secretly setting a lower target score for himself, Kumagai was now quite confident.
Nasu laughed with difficulty: "Ten points, you really have some nerve.."
The whistle blew, the referee signaled for Kumagai to continue his serve.
At that moment, Nasu also slowly let his smile fade, casting his gaze toward Miya Atsumu and Suna, who were blocking his line of sight.
He had been playing volleyball for a very, very long time, but this was the first time he had ever had the chance to enter the National Tournament.
The strongest Double Flower High School in Tochigi Prefecture is a team with incredibly strong blocking and receiving. In every match prior to this, they were held firmly back from the Finals, never once making it to the National Tournament.
Their training focused mainly on "how to execute attacks more effectively," and because of this, he focused more of his attention on the success rate of his digs.
After all, with Kuroe-senpai around, he didn't need to worry about stability at all.
But now.. it's a bit insufficient.
That first-year Little One's receive on that last ball was truly beautiful; it was simply breathtaking.
Asking himself honestly, he felt he couldn't do it.
After all, even during regular practice matches within the team, he had never managed to receive a spike from Hoshinoya-senpai.
—I'm a little bit unwilling, honestly.
But it was too late for words; all he could do now was receive the ball in front of him.
Kumagai's serve was nowhere near as sharp as Miya Atsumu's; even if Dual Wield was difficult to deal with, he could at least guarantee that he could perform the most basic "receive."
Don't be greedy.
It is enough to just do what you can do.
The heavy sound of a spike erupted near his ears.
Although the opponent's spiking motion wasn't visible at this moment, the sound of the impact made it clear that the force used was immense.
In that case.. the landing spot must be in the back.
Nasu did not rush into action, but instead waited with extreme patience until the ball appeared above.
The suspicion was confirmed in that instant; he took a step forward and dove toward where the ball was about to land.
What a great first receive!
Watching the ball fly up, Kuroe Kao followed up once again.
As the ball fell overhead, he felt an indescribable sense of relief in his heart.
His dominant hand is his right hand, so this injury will hardly affect anything.
As long as he pays more attention to the direction in which he applies most of his power, he will still be able to deliver high-quality sets.
Akiteru!
The volleyball was sent to the Ace's hitting point once again, no different from before.
In just half an hour, Hoshinoya had completed the process of running up and jumping on the court countless times.
Like a motor that never knows exhaustion, constantly running at high speed.
Hinata once again moved to Suna's side.
When the opponent's Ace performs a spike, a three-man block is required if the conditions are right; he only needs to time his jump a little earlier so that he can reach the highest point at the same time as the other two.
The next step was to press down in a C-shape as much as possible, extending the body straight while reaching over the ball to prevent it from being deflected.
Hoshinoya's gaze locked onto Hinata.
In terms of breakthrough potential alone, this Little One is definitely the best choice.
And Hinata reacted the moment he felt himself being targeted.
He decisively decided to stop tensing his body; instead, at the same moment Hoshinoya performed a spike, he pulled his arms back slightly, preventing himself from becoming a wooden board that would be smashed to pieces.
The volleyball hit Hinata's palm, but instead of bouncing high after the touch, the ball went out of control due to the immense force.
The ball flew out of the court at an extremely high speed, smashing into the spectator stands.
Oikawa Tooru clicked his tongue lightly. "That was practically unreasonable."
There was no need for much thought; Ichibayashi, as an Ace, had a much more straightforward way of thinking than Ushijima.
No.. should I say he was extremely confident in his own strength?
As Hinata landed, he stumbled two steps, nearly losing his balance.
Miya Atsumu held his hand up to his eyes, watching the direction of the ball: "That's really far."
Hinata's face turned bright red with shame, he felt completely at a loss.
He must have tried to take the touch himself, but for some inexplicable reason, he ended up giving the opponent an incredibly beautiful tooling of the block.
If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have been better off staying back to continue receiving; at the very least, he wouldn't have been making things worse.
Suna's voice came from nearby: "Good read."
Setting aside Hinata's block on that ball itself.
Given the power of that last spike, if Hinata had chosen to block it straight down like he did at the beginning, his arm would have definitely broken.
Miya Atsumu looked back at Hinata. "Focus on limiting the ball's trajectory instead of trying to force a block."
What he meant was for Hinata to continue receiving the ball and not participate in the block.
Hinata was a little disappointed, but he still nodded: "Understood."
Indeed, his arm muscles were not even close to those of the seniors, so, relatively speaking, it was safer for him to receive the ball.
After pondering for a moment, Hinata tentatively asked Miya Atsumu, "Then, Atsumu-senpai, if Hoshinoya-senpai has no way to attack, can I help with the block?"
Miya Atsumu nodded. "Of course. If it's not an Ace spike, then we have to try to block it dead."
He paused for a moment, having guessed what Hinata wanted to do.
However..
The defense on the other side is even stronger than Shiratorizawa's, are you sure you want to try?
Atsumu-senpai looked at Hinata from the side, although his tone was questioning, a smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Hinata nodded firmly, "Yeah, I want to try."
He had already made a beautiful receive, since he was finally in the front row, he naturally had to participate in the block as well.
Miya Atsumu agreed readily, "Sure, I'll set it for you."
Hinata raised both hands high and cheered, "Long live Atsumu-senpai!"
Kumagai, who had only scored one point, had already left the court and returned to the waiting area.
Rishia gave him a thumbs up. "Impressive."
Kumagai sighed, "The score hasn't widened at all.."
Coach Kurosu substituted him in at this time specifically to widen the score gap, but it yielded little effect.
Ginjima looked at the two of them: "This is the National Tournament Semifinals. Being able to score a point directly with a serve is as difficult as reaching the heavens. Can't you see how much Atsumu-senpai and Aran-senpai are struggling just to score?"
Kumagai nodded. "I understand."
But as expected.. it was mostly just unrequited unwillingness.
The situation on the court remained at a stalemate; Atsumu-senpai's service turn failed to score smoothly, as it was similarly disrupted by the opponent's powerful play.
In the face of Inarizaki's powerful service turn, Ichibayashi's low-risk playstyle proved to be quite effective.
Even when Hoshinoya took the service turn once again, he scored consecutive points, narrowing the score gap back down to one.
Coach Kurosu rubbed his chin. "That's a pretty smart way of thinking, Ichibayashi."
Since they aren't naturally good at it anyway, they should just do what they can do to the best of their ability.
Of course, for Inarizaki members, it meant playing even more uncomfortably.
“Akiteru!”
The volleyball flew toward them once again, but this time, both Hoshinoya, who was spiking, Miya Atsumu, who was preparing to block, were momentarily stunned.
But Hoshinoya's movements didn't stall for long; after adjusting his spiking angle, he still delivered a powerful spike.
Suna's expression was incredibly calm, but as Hoshinoya spiked, he and Miya Atsumu both swung their arms toward the right.
With a loud bang, the volleyball fell back into Ichibayashi's court, hitting the floor with a dull thud.
Inarizaki scored on a block.
Even Hinata, who had been prepared to receive the ball, was momentarily stunned. This was their first block score against number 4 in this match, giving it an.. incredible and sudden feeling.
Suna turned his head to look at Miya Atsumu. "Atsumu, wasn't that just.."
Miya Atsumu nodded. "It seems so."
Hinata scratched his head, not knowing what the two of them were talking about.
Just then, a signal sounded from the sidelines, Hoshinoya, standing next to Ichibayashi, proactively signaled for a time-out.
The Vice-Captain in charge of coordination, Kuroe Kao, was momentarily stunned; this was the first time Hoshinoya had exercised his authority as Captain.
The intense match was finally forcibly halted, the Inarizaki members breathed a sigh of relief.
Miya Atsumu raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his face, his gaze inadvertently sweeping across Kuroe Kao, who was also wiping her sweat on the opposite side.
Ichibayashi was still maintaining this tactic, shifting from a state of betting on the Ace to gambling with the Setter.
Kuroe Kao's movement frequency was even higher than his right now, almost spending the entire time making up for errors in the first receive.
Not to mention Kuroe Kao's fingers are already injured, the spikes from Inarizaki are quite fast, so the Setter himself needs to further reduce the ball's speed.