Reo Mizuta's movement clearly faltered for a moment, completely missing the best timing for the pass.
Ogata raised his hand and pressed the knuckle of his right index finger against his lips.
He looked at Reo Mizuta with a gaze filled with a hint of regret, also a sense of emotion.
Indecisiveness is a fatal mistake.
Fukami's gaze followed Reo Mizuta in front of him, then he decisively rushed toward Seto on the other side the moment the opponent's pass went out.
Hinata, sitting at the Head Referee's seat, also frowned. The setter's pass didn't have enough speed, the three blockers on the opposing side had already moved toward Seto's side, so..
—That ball is going to be blocked.
With a loud thud, the ball bounced off Fukami's wrist the next second and landed on the floor.
The timing was incredibly precise, catching the exact moment after the opponent's spike, leaving no room for any adjustment.
Coach Kurosu, standing by the sidelines, raised his hand to award a point to Masaru Haseda's side.
Fukami immediately burst into cheers, rushing up to the coach and shouting, "Coach! I scored with a block!"
“A block! A point!!”
Coach Kurosu reached out and held him back. "I saw it, I saw it. That was very cool."
Hinata's gaze swept over Reo Mizuta, who was pursing his lips in thought, he couldn't help but frown.
This guy..
Chapter 270: The Two Hundred and Seventieth Fox
Noticing Hinata's gaze, Reo Mizuta raised his head.
He cleared the gloom from his face and gave a small smile toward Hinata above.
Hinata did not return the smile, but instead looked at him with a somewhat dazed expression.
But at this moment, his identity was that of the Head Referee, he should not interfere with the match on the court in any way.
Masaru Haseda's performance was quite stable, in a match of this level, a spiker who can both attack and defend, who can coordinate the entire flow of the game, is the most valuable.
However, having just him alone was far from enough. On the opposing side, Teramoto and Sudo were also starting to adapt and exert their strength in the latter half of the court. Under Reo Mizuta's various orchestrations, they managed to barely claw back the deficit caused by Fukami's previous serves.
Moreover, Reo Mizuta's own serve is very strong. With Masaru Haseda's receiving skills on his side also being somewhat lacking, Reo Mizuta's service turns frequently resulted in consecutive points, so the score difference didn't end up widening too much.
Because everyone's defensive skills were limited, the entire scoring process basically consisted of scoring from serves, or scoring through serves followed by receives and spikes. There was very little confrontation at the net, so Hinata's workload wasn't that heavy; most of the time, he didn't even need to do things like attacking over the net.
"Me?" Rishia Heisuke walked to the sideline and asked Ogata.
Their match had ended with an extremely lopsided score, so the entire match proceedings had concluded quite quickly.
Ogata agreed readily, "I'll leave it to you."
You've got to be kidding me. He felt that if he stood here any longer, he might end up covered in holes from Atsumu-senpai's glare.
Rishia Heisuke took over the role of assistant referee from Ogata, while Ogata was happy to enjoy the leisure and moved to the sidelines to stand beside Kumagai and Tokura.
Miya Atsumu raised his hand and beckoned to Unabara, who had just approached, Unabara dutifully took the flag from Miya Atsumu's hands to take over the linesman's duties.
Miya Osamu looked at his twin brother expressionlessly: "You're a captain, yet you're bullying your juniors."
"That's not true! Unabara did it voluntarily, right?" After saying that, Miya Atsumu narrowed his eyes and looked toward Unabara Uta.
Unabara Uta nodded frantically, "Right, right, right! Voluntary! Completely voluntary!"
He loves the refereeing profession! He loves hard work! He respects his elders!
Unabara couldn't keep up the act, he exchanged a glance with Rishia Heisuke from the opposing side in a spot where Miya Atsumu couldn't see.
That damn Atsumu-senpai, he's going to hold a grudge!
One of these days when Atsumu-senpai isn't around, he's going to talk bad about him to Shoyo!
Hinata and the opposing Rishia Heisuke exchanged a glance, Hinata continued to raise his hands to direct the serve.
This set was already nearing its end, since the change of referees had nothing to do with the players' performance, the situation on the court remained largely unchanged from before.
Fukami's service turn had already reached set point, but at the critical moment, Teramoto successfully blocked Tojo's spike to regain the Service Right.
Watching Reo Mizuta prepare to serve, Ogata, who had been watching the entire set, let out a sigh.
Even though the score difference isn't very large right now, still..
Ogata stood with his hands on his hips, watching the situation on the court as he spoke slowly, "I have always kept my teacher's words close to my heart."
—Don't rush the kill; win through stability.
Seto Mitsuru positioned himself perfectly to receive Masaru Haseda's spike.
Nishizawa's setting targets were clear from start to finish, but because he did not use his hands to set, it directly resulted in every one of their attacks being precisely caught by the opponents.
Reo Mizuta stepped forward quickly, jumping behind the three-meter line, preparing to set the ball.
Fukami quietly watched Reo Mizuta's movements, simulating the opponent's subsequent actions in his mind.
As someone who had played setter for three years, he was very familiar with all the methods setters used to try and score by exploiting loopholes in the rules.
A normal back-row jump set requires the player to step into the front row before jumping. Although there is no Libero, they take it as a given that hitting the ball while it is above the height of the net while in the front row is a foul.
In this situation, suddenly choosing to jump from the back row with such high difficulty means there is a very high probability that it is a Second Ball.
Miya Atsumu stood by the sidelines with his arms crossed, quietly watching Mizuta's movements. "If it were me, I wouldn't play it."
On the opposing side, only Fukami and Masaru Haseda can block and accurately time their jumps, even Masaru Haseda's timing isn't that precise.
Moreover, spiking is much easier to master than blocking. Even though Sudo and the others were quite unpracticed at first, they are now able to hit some pretty good spikes.
But when it comes to blocking, both sides are still exactly as they were at the beginning.
Even if they have progressed from knowing nothing at the start to being able to follow the play, that kind of celebratory block is completely useless.
So.. in this current situation, the best choice is to use feints to simultaneously direct the flow to spikers on both sides.
After all, Masaru Haseda alone cannot cover both sides, given that his own reception skills are not that high, there are enough opportunities to score through a spike.
If they chose to attempt a Second Attack under such insufficient cover..
After a brief moment of thought, Reo Mizuta decisively drove the ball toward the other side of the net, but Masaru Haseda and Nishizawa Hokuto in the back row both noticed the ball at the same time.
Compared to a spike, the speed of a second attack is far from sufficient, so as long as the positioning is accurate, it can be received and set properly even on the first touch.
Nishizawa shouted decisively, "I've got it!!"
Masaru Haseda immediately refocused, choosing to hand all the initiative over to his teammate.
And Nishizawa did not disappoint; after receiving the ball, he sent it steadily right to Masaru Haseda.
Standing by the sidelines, Kumagai finished the sentence: "One slip-up, the whole game is lost."
The sound of the ball hitting the floor rang out, pronouncing the final result of the match.
Ogata rubbed his fingers, the tips of his fingers still seemingly able to feel the cool, smooth touch of the thing he had spent so much time with in the past.
Looking at the scoreboard by the side of the court, which already showed 25:22 in favor of the red side, he gave a somewhat helpless smile.
—Masaru Haseda's side won.
"We won!" Fukami raised his hands high, clapping with each of his teammates one by one.
Compared to the excitement on this side, it was much quieter over on Mizuta's side; it seemed as though no one was experiencing any intense emotional fluctuations because of this match.
Mizuta wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand and waved off Lin, who had come over from the other side to apologize.
A loss is a loss; it was simply a matter of being outclassed.
Watching Hinata, who was climbing down from the Head Referee and looking like he wanted to say something to Reo Mizuta, Ogata happened to walk by and stopped him with a look.
Before Hinata could say anything else, Coach Kurosu had already called a huddle over there, preparing to change the lineup to organize the Second Set.
It was essentially the same as the club tryout Hinata went through; the entire testing process was completed in three sets.
Shoyo! Come here for a second!
“I'm coming!”
Coach Kurosu called out to Hinata, taking him away from the gymnasium to give him some instructions regarding the upcoming training matches.
After all, Hinata was relatively good at handling interpersonal relationships within the team, since he was quite close to Coach Kusubashi, the task of discreetly gathering information and building good relationships with the newcomers was handed to him.
After finishing post-match stretching led by Miya Atsumu, the first-year students gradually dispersed.
Some of the first-years were exhausted, while others had looks of excitement on their faces, having felt the true joy that volleyball brings.
Masaru Haseda and Fukami, of course, belonged to the latter; the genuine joy brought by an actual match was far greater than watching a video.
Reo Mizuta silently packed up his things, smiled and said goodbye to everyone, left the locker room first.
Nishizawa, who had worked together with Masaru Haseda for two sets, changed out of his volleyball shoes.
Through the sunlight streaming in from the windows outside the gymnasium, Nishizawa quietly watched the figures of Hinata and Rishia Heisuke leaving together.
The seniors have left.
In the end, he still couldn't manage to say a single word.
Perhaps he should have been a bit more courageous; if he had been able to block Hinata-senpai just now, he might have been able to say hello.
Pursing his lips, Nishizawa Hokuto, who had come alone, grabbed his bag and prepared to leave by himself.
Fukami, who had already changed his shoes and packed his things, followed behind Masaru Haseda, preparing for today's yakisoba bread raid.
As he was leaving, he suddenly remembered something and turned his head, waving to Nishizawa Hokuto. "Hokuto! We're heading out first! See you tomorrow!"
Masaru Haseda also nodded to him: "See you tomorrow."
Nishizawa Hokuto flashed a heartfelt smile and raised both hands to wave to the two of them. "See you tomorrow!"
The locker room door was closed, leaving him alone.
After packing his towel and water bottle and changing out of his recently purchased volleyball shoes, Nishizawa Hokuto took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the locker room in front of him.
Before he could even walk through the entire exhibition corridor, a sudden call came from behind him.
Nishizawa-kun, wait a second, there is something we need to discuss with you.