The glare of the sunlight was something that no gymnasium's ceiling lights could ever match. In an instant, Unabara Uta's eyes welled with involuntary tears, blurring his vision and forcing him to squint.
At this moment, he suddenly understood why the people playing against Shimizu and the others two days ago had all been wearing specialized sunglasses and goggles.
Damn, I can't see anything at all..
The next second, the volleyball grazed Unabara Uta's arm as it fell, landing heavily on the top of his foot.
Before Unabara Uta could even react, the ball had already bounced back up, falling diagonally out of bounds.
Shiratori, watching from the stands, was dumbfounded: "Wow, that luck.."
However, it wasn't entirely just luck; the fact that Unabara Uta could estimate the general landing area under those circumstances was already quite impressive.
Shimizu's high serves, delivered from such "perfect" conditions, would be considered top-tier even on a national level, whereas Unabara Uta is merely a novice when it comes to Beach Volleyball.
Bokuto rushed out to dive, sending the ball back into the court with a back-pass.
Unabara Uta, having regained his senses, quickly followed up, jumping beneath the ball to spike.
His height was quite high for a Libero, even among Spikers of the same age, he would rank in the upper-middle tier. Although he wasn't particularly good at jumping, he had no trouble hitting the ball normally.
Of course, that is assuming the opponent's block isn't too terrifying.
But..
A shadow cast from above, a precise block firmly stood in the ball's path, slamming it back into the court.
Unabara Uta tried to dive to save the ball as it fell, but he couldn't quite reach it.
Shimizu scored with a block.
Hinata's cheers rang out immediately after: "Great play, Shimizu-senpai! That was so cool!!"
Even though he had no presence just now, Shimizu-senpai was just too cool! He really wanted to try a receive too! It must be difficult, but it would feel amazing even if he did manage to receive it!
Shiratori in the stands also shouted, "What a beautiful block by Shimizu Kanata!"
Unabara Uta fell to his knees.
I knew it! Shimizu is someone who won the National Best Middle Blocker award in high school!
With his amateurish offensive ability, he wouldn't be able to break through the opponent's defense at all!
Bokuto patted his chest: "Leave it to me! I'll break through the defense!"
Unabara Uta felt as if a god had descended at this moment: "Bokuto-senpai—"
Shimizu caught the volleyball that Bokuto-senpai had sent back, responding with a gentle smile: "Even against Taiyou-kun, I won't lose."
Hinata cheered, "What a great serve!"
It was another high lob serve with a near 100% completion rate, but this time, Unabara Uta, who had already squinted his eyes to avoid the sunlight, moved closer to the ball and reached up to touch it.
Seeing the ball fly away again, Unabara Uta hurriedly shouted, "Sorry! Bokuto-senpai!"
Bokuto had already rushed out, using one hand to spike the ball over the net.
Since Unabara Uta's offense could not break through the opponent's block, he would just hit it straight to the other side, forcing them to play a backhand.
When it comes to blocking height, he won't lose to Shimizu!
"I've got it!" Hinata shouted, stepping back as he steadily received the ball.
This ball itself wasn't a spike, so the speed wasn't fast; he just needed to extend his arms straight and pop the ball up.
As for what angle to use to get the ball to the Setter's position.. he had already engraved it into his heart long ago.
No, it would be more accurate to say that through countless repetitive drills, the sensation had been etched into his muscle memory through sheer physical soreness.
Seeing that the ball was delivered to a sufficiently comfortable position, Shimizu shouted, "Nice hit!"
He stepped forward to adjust his position, sending the ball to a relatively high hitting point.
The person from the adjacent court who had just finished a rally turned to look over, was startled by the height of the ball.
That's too high. I wouldn't even be able to reach that height myself. Can the Little One really do it? This is sand, after all.
The sand will swallow a portion of the power used to gain height, so.. he won't be able to do it.
Looking at the height of this ball, Hinata had already rushed underneath it after four steps.
He lowered his center of gravity as much as possible at the net, his final step sank into the sand as he stomped heavily.
The secret to the jump is the same as on a hard floor; it still relies on arm swing to generate momentum, using the strength of the entire body to leap.
The only difference was.. that for him, he no longer had to worry about absorbing the impact when landing.
Watching Unabara Uta, who had already rushed over to block, Hinata's gaze did not waver; instead, he locked onto that highest point, that.. place closest to the sun.
Higher, even higher!
The sand kicked up as his feet left the ground traced his jump trajectory, looking like the vapor trail left by an airplane in flight.
People on the adjacent court gasped, "He's flying.."
At a height that absolutely exceeded Unabara Uta's block, Hinata spiked the ball down with everything he had.
Unfortunately, because he hadn't yet adapted to the feeling of sand on the volleyball, he couldn't fully control the ball's trajectory. The ball flew directly toward the sideline, but fortunately, it landed in-bounds.
Hinata landed on the ground, slightly bending his knees to transfer the impact to the sand.
Without the intense feedback from a hard floor, the process of absorbing the impact became much less painful, the pressure on his knees was significantly reduced.
In the stands, Shiratori screamed at the top of his lungs, "Great hit, Shoyo!!"
Alright, alright.
He admitted that he regretted it; he wanted to play volleyball with Shoyo too! Just the two of them!
Shimizu, who had intended to high-five Hinata, instead caught a fleeting glimpse of unease on Hinata's face.
He quickly walked to Hinata's side, leaning down slightly as he asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
Hinata shook his head. "No, I just feel like going to the indoor volleyball gym to play tonight."
He looked at Shimizu with a very serious expression: "The sand.. is a bit scary."
Shimizu understood what Hinata meant almost instantly, he simply used his clean hands to pat Hinata's head: "Alright, I'll have Natsume take you guys there."
“Yeah!” Hinata nodded.
The receive was indeed okay, but he felt that he needed some jumping feedback from a hard floor right now.
He cheered for Shimizu-senpai, "Shimizu-senpai, give us another great serve!"
Shimizu took the ball and walked back again: "Alright."
Unlike Indoor Volleyball, the scoring in Beach Volleyball is played to 21 points, right now Hinata and Shimizu are already up by two points.
Unabara Uta frowned, took a deep breath, prepared to receive the ball again.
Coach Sanjo, standing by the sidelines, rubbed his chin and let out an indiscernible hum from his throat.
To be honest, compared to Hinata's side, where the responsibilities for receiving, blocking, setting, attacking were clearly defined, the combination of Unabara Uta and Bokuto-senpai could only be described as a total mess.
Unabara Uta was a Libero by trade, so naturally, his specialty was receiving.
But Beach Volleyball only has two players, you cannot touch the ball twice in a row, which meant Unabara Uta had no way to proactively receive the ball.
—Because he is not good at offense.
If we wanted to preserve Bokuto's powerful offensive capability, Unabara Uta would have to take on Shimizu's role, which means being responsible for blocking and setting.
But in both of these areas, Unabara Uta's performance was clearly quite mediocre, he did not possess the ability to provide Bokuto with a good offensive environment.
Of course, by the same logic, if Bokuto wanted to launch an attack, he would have to receive the serve himself, but Bokuto's own receiving skills were not particularly good.
As the Ace Wing Spiker, he has always been protected by his teammates, his experience in receiving is also insufficient; in fact, all he can manage is to a certain extent just "self-preservation."
“So.."
An Ace who only knows how to protect themselves won't make it.
Miya Atsumu stood with his hands on his hips, looking at Rishia Heisuke, who had his head lowered on the opposite side: "Lift your head. I am not criticizing you; I am teaching you."
Watching Rishia Heisuke lift his head and stand straight, Miya Atsumu raised an eyebrow slightly. "Do you naturally assume that Hinata is the Ace? Is that why you feel so little pressure?"
Wake up, you're the one in the position that needs to handle the pressure.
Rishia Heisuke had a look of visible confusion on his face. To be honest, because the tactical updates were happening so quickly now, he was having a bit of trouble keeping up with Miya Atsumu's rhythm.
Miya Atsumu glanced at Masaru Haseda and the others who were also listening on the other side, silently exchanged a look with Miya Osamu, then continued speaking.
Even though having Aran there for the past two years made our tactics less pure, the essence of our playstyle remains that of a Stronger Opposite.
As a Left Wing Spiker, your biggest tasks are to Receive Serve and handle the pressure.
Miya Atsumu held up two fingers one by one. "The two on the Left Wing—the Opposite and the Left Wing Spiker; and the two on the Right Wing—the Setter and the Right Wing Spiker. The opponent will inevitably pick one of them to target."
And compared to the Left Wing Spiker, the Opposite who plays against the Setter is actually much easier to protect.
In this Stronger Spiker style of play, the Opposite's only task is to spike.
Handling pressure is your and Osamu's job; don't get your priorities mixed up.
At this point, Miya Atsumu paused for a moment.
In fact, he had also had a long talk about this question with Coach Kurosu before, considering whether to put Miya Osamu back into the Opposite position to provide support.
But the final answer was no.
And the reason was exactly as he said: Wing Spikers are easier to target, it is also easier to use that to relieve pressure.
Hinata is their sharpest blade; his tricky offensive capability is superior to Miya Osamu's.
And Miya Osamu's ability in terms of overall support is superior to Hinata's; he himself leans more towards being a "supportive Opposite" rather than a completely "Stronger Opposite."
Considering the fact that their first receive quality has declined, the benefits of Miya Osamu playing on the Right Wing are far greater than him playing as an Opposite.
Compared to a Wing Spiker, who relies more on overall form, the role of a Stronger Opposite is to step up when the First Receive is poor or the Setter's sets are tricky, thereby opening up the game for the team.
Miya Atsumu narrowed his eyes. "Heisuke, do you remember how Shiratorizawa plays?"
Rishia nodded hurriedly. "I remember. Ushijima-senpai is the most standard Stronger Opposite, right?"
Atsumu nodded in satisfaction, his tone softening slightly: "As long as you remember. Then your task is to become an Ohira-senpai with even stronger offense and the same defensive intensity."
Don't tell me you can't do it. When Ushijima-senpai and Ohira-senpai were here, Shiratorizawa was only in the top eight in the nation, but our goal is the championship.