Learn to assess the situation, maintain a proper spacing between the front and back rows, adjust your defensive positioning with more flexibility.
Unabara nodded: "Understood."
Bokuto raised his eyes and thought seriously, trying his best to understand the Coach's meaning: "Understand??"
Seeing Coach Kurosu's expression darken significantly, Unabara Uta hurriedly reached out to grab Bokuto, "I'll explain it to Senpai, it's very simple."
Hinata also expressed that he understood: "Ah, that."
He struggled to recall the professional terminology, finally squeezing out a sentence: "What was it called? Something about the front and back row defense staying relatively stationary?"
Unabara Uta nodded. "It's something like that."
Inarizaki's current defense also uses this technique, since there are more people in Indoor Volleyball, the difficulty of overall coordination is very high; they basically had to practice this kind of positioning every single day when they were at school.
Hinata, having been affirmed, blinked and decisively turned his head toward Bokuto: "Bokuto-senpai! It's just like that! One person catches it here and another catches it there, one person quickly retreats to the front, the person in the back has to quickly move as well. Then, someone runs over here from the left with thud-thud-thud, someone from the right also—"
Unabara felt his vision go black.
There it was, Hinata's extraordinary onomatopoeia explanation***—
But to be honest, perhaps because he had already anticipated the standard answer, he actually understood it this time.
Bokuto also looked as if he had a sudden realization, raising his hand: "This one! I can do it! I completely understand!"
Coach Sanjo curled his lips slightly. "Unabara too; since you're not confident about scoring with a spike, then just try to pass it directly."
Among these four, only Shimizu truly plays beach volleyball, she possesses outstanding skill.
With both Unabara Uta and Bokuto struggling to adapt, it was indeed very easy for the gap to widen. Not to mention Hinata's incredible adaptability; he had already begun to get used to the sensation of chasing the ball on the sand.
Unabara Uta nodded. "Yeah, I understand."
However.. he doesn't plan to do that right now.
After playing for a while, he gradually found his rhythm, he would continue to try things like his offense.
No matter how strong the opponent is, they only use single blocks; the correct way to respond is to find and adjust to the changes in the spike's trajectory, just like Bokuto-senpai.
Just as the Kita Team often says when they are helping them organize materials, to know yourself and know your enemy is the key to victory in a hundred battles.
To better improve one's defensive adaptability in various situations, one needs to step into the spiker's perspective and think from their point of view about what the opponent is thinking.
So..
“Shimizu-senpai, can I try blocking too?” Hinata asked, eager to give it a try.
Anyway, Unabara doesn't jump very high, so his spikes definitely won't be as hard to block as Bokuto-senpai's; at the very least, I can still limit the ball's trajectory.
Shimizu agreed readily, "Of course you can. Go ahead and give it a try."
Hinata cheered, "Long live Shimizu-senpai!"
Watching Hinata cheer and jump around Shimizu like a little flea on the court, Shiratori silently wrapped himself even more tightly in his sun protection clothing while in the stands.
It's so sunny, so hot, I'm going to melt.
He felt that coming out today was a mistake; he would have been better off going to the baseball field or staying in his dorm room reading books.
Next time, even if Bokuto climbs through the window to call him, he won't agree!
Even though Bokuto was working hard to adjust his condition on one side, he ultimately could not defeat Hinata and Shimizu, the final score for this set ended at 21:16.
Hinata cheered, "We won!"
He beat Bokuto-senpai! Even if it was Beach Volleyball!
Bokuto was completely unwilling to admit defeat: "Damn it—my touch was off this time! Let's go again!"
Coach Sanjo appeared at the right moment, directing the two sides to switch sides: "Change up the lineup. Shimizu, you go to the other side. Bokuto and Hinata, you're together."
Hinata continued to cheer, his excitement reaching new heights: "Awesome! I get to play with Bokuto-senpai!"
Bokuto was about to challenge Hinata once again, but he quickly faced reality: "That can't be helped. Come to our Volleyball Club tonight, we'll play a three-on-three indoor volleyball match to decide the winner!"
"Yeah! No problem!" Hinata agreed happily.
He already couldn't wait to go to the Volleyball Hall to show off his skills; having not touched a hard floor for several days, he missed it dearly.
On the other side, Shimizu was also communicating with Unabara Uta: "Do you want me to be the main blocker or the setter?"
His voice was very gentle, communicating with every newcomer with great patience.
Unabara Uta shook his head. "No need, Shimizu-senpai just play as you usually do, I will try to keep up."
Please forgive me if I fall short in any way.
Shimizu nodded. "Okay."
Coach Sanjo was very satisfied with the overall progress on this side.
The several people on the court are all bright children, with Shimizu, who is excellent at communicating with all sorts of people, acting as a guide, it is quite worry-free.
Watching the match resume, Coach Sanjo let his mind wander for a moment.
He actually always felt that Shimizu was very suited to be a preschool teacher, could even communicate with Bokuto without any barriers.
Originally, Shiratori was supposed to share a room with Bokuto, but Shiratori couldn't stand being tortured by Bokuto after living with him for just two days. In the end, he pulled Shimizu to live with them, while he himself ran away on the fourth day.
—That is why there is an empty bed in Shimizu and Bokuto's room.
But speaking of which, Hinata and Bokuto both seem very well-suited for Beach Volleyball.
His hand speed was fast, he quickly found his rhythm.
Maybe.. I should just keep him and never let him go.
Hmm, I hope he won't be punished by his wife when he gets back tonight.
Bokuto still felt unsatisfied after finishing the morning training session, but since they had other arrangements for the afternoon, he could only be dragged away by Shiratori, looking back over his shoulder with every step.
By the way, Shiratori himself was also looking back with every step.
The afternoon training focused primarily on reviewing the morning session and individual skills, rather than continuing with match play.
After Hinata and Unabara had finished dinner at the cafeteria, they wandered aimlessly around the Central Physical Education University campus to digest their food.
Walking near the stadium, Unabara Uta, feeling inexplicably a bit tired, sat down on a bench.
Hinata didn't say anything either, just performing calisthenics to warm up his joints in front of him.
Today, he played all his matches alongside Unabara Uta, Unabara Uta also suffered the painful result of winning only a single match.
The libero, frustrated by his reception on the beach volleyball court, looked up at the spiker in front of him and asked, "How did Shoyo handle it? Receiving."
Hinata scratched his head and rubbed his chin, saying with some confusion, "Just like usual. Aside from the floor beneath my feet being different.. there doesn't seem to be much difference?"
Unabara stared blankly at Hinata, seriously recalling in his mind the state of Hinata and Shimizu's receiving during the day, as well as the feeling of receiving balls on the hard court with the two of them before.
Indeed, it seemed there was no difference.
Then.. was the problem with himself?
“It's about watching the direction of the ball, then going to receive it..”
Hinata tried his best to describe it, but he still felt that words were insufficient to express that feeling, so he turned to demonstrating it through physical action instead.
Bang, clap, just like that.
Unabara rested his chin on his hand, watching Hinata's full demonstration while continuing to think hard.
If I had to say.. it seems like Hinata's frequency of choosing to dive isn't very high?
There are many balls that are too far out of reach for Hinata to chase, so most of the time, Hinata will make a prediction in advance and choose one side to defend.
Unabara lowered his hands, staring intently at Hinata's legs in front of him.
Right, that's it.
Whether it was beach volleyball or indoor volleyball, he really shouldn't have easily given up on attempting a bump just because he felt he couldn't receive the ball steadily, instead opted for a safer diving maneuver.
Although Komori-senpai and Hanae-san often appeared to be crawling on the ground in his memory, that was actually the result of them having performed dives.
Under normal circumstances, they would have received every ball steadily.
—Just like Yaku-senpai.
What is this?
Is it.. the aura of a defensive player?
Seeing Unabara suddenly burst into laughter, Hinata, who didn't quite understand what was happening, blinked. "Unabara?"
Unabara Uta suddenly stood up, rushed over, hugged Hinata, ruffling his hair. "Thank you, Shoyo! I think I've finally found my rhythm!"
Come to think of it, he had indeed been spoiled by the setters and spikers, his standards for himself were truly too low.
"Giving Atsumu-senpai a ball he can set" and "minimizing the impact on subsequent attacks"—things that should be taken for granted should not be his goals.
He must do better, creating the best and most comfortable attacking environment for his teammates.
After all.. he is the guardian deity of Inarizaki!
"I don't know what happened, but.." Hinata was being rubbed so hard he was swaying from side to side, yet he struggled to look up at his teammate, flashing a pure and radiant smile.
It's so good that you can help!
Unabara patted his chest. "Don't worry, I'll spoil you and Atsumu-senpai!"
Hinata cheered, "So reliable! Unabara!"
Then let's go to the Indoor Volleyball court now! I haven't played indoor in days!
Unabara Uta took the lead: "Let's go, let's go, let's go! First, we'll head back to the Beach Volleyball court to grab our things. Coach Utsunomiya said he'll be coming by in a bit."
Hinata nodded heavily and ran after him toward the Volleyball Hall: "Yeah!"
Over at Inarizaki, Miya Atsumu was flipping through the footage of the recently concluded Kyoto representative selection tournament.
Unlike other regions where you only need to watch the finals, the semifinals in regional tournaments like Kyoto and Miyagi also require careful watching.
In Kyoto this year, Inubushi Higashi lost to Seito in the semifinals, Seito lost to Rakusan in the finals.
The only qualifying spot fell to Rakusan High School.
Miya Atsumu was not surprised by this result; in fact, he had seen it coming.
He was all too familiar with Inubushi Higashi and Seito, the disadvantages of both were obvious; since the previous captain of Seito graduated, the new lineup's offense had been mediocre.