Rather than warming up, it was more like readjusting to the feeling of facing an extremely powerful opponent after a long break.
Captain Higashiyama clapped his hands, calming everyone's emotions: "It's not a big problem; we have service right in the Second Set. As long as we don't let Inarizaki pull ahead in points, there's hope for a win."
Inarizaki's defensive strength has relatively decreased, so we just need to seize the opportunities properly.
Even though they lost a setter who acted as a playmaker due to Wakamura-senpai's graduation, their ace Kanzaki is not the type of player who pursues powerful attacks; his adaptability to the ball is stronger than many others, so as long as they can ensure the ball is sent over, it will be fine.
Hanae said calmly, "Leave everything in the back row to me. We'll do whatever it takes to score. If the block really can't keep up with Hinata's high balls, then just split up; just have the single block limit my defensive blind spots."
In the familiar high-pressure environment, he had gradually found his rhythm; in the next set, he would receive every damn quick attack and every damn high ball.
Anyway, the IH tournament is different from the Haruko; it's a best-of-three format. Even if he has to dive for every single ball in every set, his stamina will be able to hold up perfectly.
But.. it's hard to say about Inarizaki.
Hanae's gaze swept briefly across the very top of the Municipal Kobe side of the stands, seeing those guys in their eccentric outfits again, he couldn't help but chuckle.
They promised they would win.
It feels like the next set won't be easy to play.." Taking a glance at the serious expressions over at Municipal Kobe, Hinata turned his head to look at Miya Atsumu. "Should we try a three-person back row rotation?
Miya Atsumu shook his head. "No need, let's keep it hidden for now."
He turned to look at the two Second Years: "Just maintain your current state; Unabara and Heisuke, make your receives a bit more stable."
The two of them nodded. "Understood."
Miya Atsumu glanced sideways at Miya Osamu, who was drinking water at the Coach's bench, his mood could be described as quite calm.
Actually, their overall condition was fine right now, Municipal Kobe's offense wasn't strong enough to be undefendable; Miya Osamu could still stabilize things while stationed in the back row.
The most frustrating part is that the opponent's Ace keeps playing in the front court; with balls like backspin spikes, it's too late to save them once they hit the floor in the front row.
And these kinds of balls are also very difficult for the back row to save, anyone other than the Libero will lose most of the conditions needed for subsequent attacks because of it.
The trouble lies here; to crush the opponent's defense, they must produce an attack with sufficient intensity..
Miya Atsumu tilted his head slightly toward Miya Osamu: "Osamu, I'll leave the back row to you."
Unlike them, the few Second Years who have become starters now are basically lacking in experience; in fact, even Rishia and Hinata have hardly participated in any official matches before coming to Inarizaki.
Unabara Uta, who is a bit better, hasn't played in many official matches either; at the end of the day, the few matches he played last year were the most valuable.
He has been a regular starter for his team since junior high. Although Osamu didn't play every match during his first year of high school because he is a spiker, he has played every match since then.
Experience has the greatest impact on defense, unless it's one of those pure talent-type Liberos..
Right, I'm talking about Karasuno's incredible Libero.
He still couldn't understand to this day how someone who hadn't participated in a National Tournament in Junior High, hadn't even played many official matches in High School, could receive his serves so steadily; that simply couldn't be explained by training volume alone.
If Unabara Uta could evolve in that direction, they could at least save half the effort in their matches this year.
Unabara Uta, who had been the target of Miya Atsumu's resentment for quite some time, smiled effortfully: "I'm working hard, Atsumu-senpai."
He was just an ordinary person, so he needed more time.
Even if he can't do it well right now, if he pours his entire heart and soul into it, one day, he will hone a touch that is uniquely his own.
Akagi-senpai did the same, didn't he?
Thinking of this, Unabara Uta decided decisively, "I'll take all the balls in the front row; Osamu-senpai and Heisuke, please take care of the back row."
Hinata, who had no defensive tasks for the moment, pursed his lips. If only his block could keep up a little more..
However, there was no use thinking about that now; what he needed to do was to maintain the overall scoring frequency and reduce the pressure on the defensive players.
Speaking of which, there is actually a simple and direct way, for example.. just hitting the ball straight into the stands.
Especially since Municipal Kobe's current blocking height isn't very impressive, making them a great target for tooling the block.
He had been feeling restless a few times just now, but Atsumu-senpai's set was a bit too high; he felt that if he didn't go for an overhand spike, he would be doing a disservice to such a great opportunity.
But thinking about it now.. Hanae has indeed gradually started to keep up with his rhythm; in the second half, he really should have chosen to hit over the block.
Having found a good way to solve the problem, Hinata clenched his fists secretly and said to everyone with full confidence, "I'll work hard to make sure they can't launch a counterattack."
Immediately after, he turned his head toward Miya Atsumu: "Atsumu-senpai, is it possible to lower the hitting point a bit?"
Miya Atsumu didn't ask why, because he had already guessed more or less, so he just replied with a smile, "Sure."
Hinata grew even more restless: "Also, can I set a few balls for Atsumu-senpai?"
Just now, there were several times when the ball came very close to the net, it would have been more suitable for him to receive it from his position.
Miya Atsumu extinguished the flame in Hinata's heart once again: "No, let's win this match by playing steadily first. Once we get back, I'll play whatever you want to play."
This year's IH is going to be difficult, there is very little reference material, so every step before this is extremely important; we absolutely cannot make a mistake.
By keeping an extra card up their sleeve, they would have an additional option to choose from during the actual tournament.
Coach Omimi was even more moved, raising his hand to wipe away his tears. "Atsumu.. you've grown to a level I never even dared to imagine before—"
Suna added expressionlessly, "After all, he used to be unreliable on a whole new level."
Miya Osamu agreed, "Exactly, exactly."
Miya Atsumu laughed with difficulty. "Coach, you didn't have to say it out loud."
Meanwhile, the rotation for the second set was confirmed, the referee signaled for everyone to return to the court.
On the way to the court, Hinata's peripheral vision caught a somewhat familiar figure by the sidelines.
He remembered.. wasn't it one of the Junior National Team coaches?
Hinata reached out and tugged on Miya Atsumu's shirt: "Atsumu-senpai, did I win against Hanae?"
Miya Atsumu nodded without a second thought: "Shoyo, you're much better than him."
Having received affirmation from the Junior National Team regular Miya Atsumu, Hinata immediately cheered, "That's awesome!"
Watching everyone return to the court, Coach Kurosu lowered his eyes and fell into deep thought.
Indeed, although they had moved Miya Osamu to the right wing spiker position to fill the defensive gap left after the previous year's graduates graduated, they had consequently lost some of the support ability required for a setter/opposite position.
Hinata's passing ability is still somewhat lacking; it can only be said that he has reached the passing standard for a high school setter, he can handle things under normal circumstances.
But.. he still has a long way to go to reach his goal of becoming an "Omnipotent Hand."
There is also the possibility of targeted serves, where the handling of the first receive cannot simply stop at just "getting it up."
Self-preservation was merely a temporary choice based on the Setter's excellent skill level; it was impossible to remain in this stage indefinitely, they had to find a way to break out of that defensive state.
And Aran has done exceptionally well in this regard; one could even say it is because of Aran's excellent ability to handle pressure that Inarizaki's defense appears so formidable.
Now that Hinata has learned almost everything regarding his offense, what remains is day after day, year after year of training and accumulation; it will be difficult to produce any qualitative change in a short period of time.
Of course, this also means.. that it's time to incorporate some new types of specialized training.
Coach Kurosu rubbed his chin and suddenly said, "A few days ago, Utsunomiya came to see me and said that the coach over at Central Physical Education University's beach volleyball team wants to meet Hinata, asking if I'd be willing to send him over for a while."
I was a bit hesitant at first, since the two months between the end of the preliminaries and the start of this tournament are a crucial period for coordination. However, if Shoyo wants to refine his setting.. beach volleyball is indeed a great choice.
Beach volleyball has stricter judging on setting, even a tiny bit of spin on the ball during a set will be called as a double contact.
That kind of high pressure is a great way to rapidly improve one's setting and ball control skills. It would be even better if we could also take advantage of Coach Utsunomiya's expertise in refining offensive and defensive tactics.
Coach Kurosu thought about the subsequent arrangements: "It's said to be about two weeks. It seems we've already decided to start our vacation in early July, the IH tournament should still be in early August, so there's plenty of time."
Coach Omimi was stunned for a moment. "What about the training camp?"
Coach Kurosu said without any hesitation, "I'll discuss it with Coach Kusubashi and the others later; let's make it a bit earlier."
It would be perfect to take Hinata to Tokyo right after the training camp ends, Unabara Uta should also get some proper rest; I wonder if they can be sent off together.
It would be perfect to set aside a little over a week to work on the final coordination.
Coach Omimi nodded. "I think I understand."
After speaking, he froze for a moment, suddenly raised a question: "What about Atsumu-senpai?"
For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen, like.. someone was going to cause a scene.
Coach Kurosu fell silent for two seconds, then said ruthlessly, "Atsumu stays behind to lead the team; he is the captain."
—Any objections are invalid.
Chapter 301: The Three Hundred and First Fox
Unaware of the bad news he was about to hear, Miya Atsumu had already stood back up on the court, seriously observing the state of Municipal Kobe.
He was well aware that Municipal Kobe's Ace was a slow starter, Hanae himself was also quite a slow starter, so this set likely wouldn't be easy to play.
Considering that we also need to conserve energy for later, any slight slip-up could give the opponent an opportunity..
However, all in all, it wasn't a major problem. If the opponents played with the same strategy as the last set, there would be absolutely no way for them to win.
While both sides were confirming the rotation, Miya Atsumu raised his hand to gesture toward the waiting area, while simultaneously using his eyes to signal toward the opposing Municipal Kobe side.
The first years in the waiting area were a bit dazed, but since Miya Atsumu wasn't signaling to them, they chose to completely ignore him.
Having received the signal, Kumagai silently raised his hand and made an OK sign.
Municipal Kobe chose a more targeted way of playing right from the opening, continuing to emphasize attacks landing in the front row, building upon what they did in the previous set.
Miya Atsumu also followed suit; when Municipal Kobe focused their attacks on Hinata, he frequently used Miya Osamu to execute Double Quick attacks, breaking apart Municipal Kobe's defense.
Completely out of sync with the actual spiker, Miya Osamu, Sakurai's expression looked quite terrible.
—Was it a decoy again?!
The disappointment in Hinata's heart also vanished into the sky in an instant.
—It's not like it was being given to him!
But it was true that his attacking conditions weren't very good, so it was only natural that Atsumu-senpai wouldn't give him the ball.
But.. even if the conditions weren't good, he still had enough confidence to spike and score.
So it's only natural that he's unhappy, right!
Inarizaki scored with a spike, the service right returned.
During the break between rotations, Hinata stared at Miya Atsumu, letting out sounds heavy with resentment.