Realizing he was being targeted, Hinata proactively lowered his blocking posture the moment Niokuchi spiked.
Touch!
Unabara Uta praised, "Beautiful!"
Hinata landed, quickly retreated to create distance for his approach, prepared for his subsequent offensive movement.
His current strength is insufficient, his upper body muscle strength is also mediocre; when facing heavy spikes from tall opponents, he must try his best to avoid facing them head-on.
A touch would be enough, because he could win the point back through his subsequent offense.
Date Tech's middle blocker, Niokuchi, stared intently at Miya Atsumu's movement.
The blocking of Date Tech is the most standard form of split-step follow-up blocking, for the most part, they are not afraid of a Quick Attack.
As long as one person can keep up, the others can quickly close in to form the Iron Wall.
So his task was to keep a close eye on Miya Atsumu's set.
Hinata's figure appeared near Position 4, while Suna had already circled around to Position 2. Rishia Heisuke, who had rotated to the center, had not made a move yet, seemingly preparing to execute a Double Quick on both sides of the net.
Koganezawa moved half a step toward Inarizaki's Position 4 following Hinata's movement, while simultaneously turning his head to look toward Miya Atsumu.
But in the very next second, Hinata suddenly stepped forward to take a running start, his entire trajectory carving a beautiful arc across the court.
Rishia Heisuke, who was originally at the center, moved laterally toward Position 4, the two of them completed the process of crossing and swapping positions in front of the setter almost perfectly.
At the same time, the ball in Miya Atsumu's hands was already flying, aimed directly at the center.
The block from Date Tech converged toward the center from both sides. The three players lowered their center of gravity slightly, after their heels hit the floor with a thud as they stepped forward with their right legs, they jumped in succession.
Niokuchi stared intently at Hinata's form, reaching his hands forward and downward, preparing to block it down.
This kind of overly obvious set could easily be blocked!
But Hinata's height exceeded his field of vision in the next instant, reaching a point at the limit of their block with a posture that looked almost as if he were about to take flight.
Niokuchi's eyes widened, a sense of absurdity washed over him.
Seriously? They were outmaneuvered?
Hinata's gaze passed over the block and locked onto the point furthest from Sakunami.
Although it only cleared the block by a small margin, it was.. enough.
BANG!!
A heavy sound rang out, before anyone could even react, the ball had already slammed into the floor.
Hinata scored with a spike.
Nice shot!!
As expected of the Little Giant! So cool!!
“Shoyo-senpai! That was amazing!”
Hinata landed on the ground, slightly lifting his head to look toward the Iron Wall opposite him.
Under the cover of his slightly long hair, his eyes shone with an astonishing brightness in the shadows.
The moment he locked eyes with Hinata, Niokuchi's mind went completely blank.
This Little One.. is way too good at jumping!
Hinata didn't look at the Date Tech players again, but instead turned his head to high-five his teammates.
Nice!
After Rishia scored with a spike, Hinata rotated to the back row, but the members of Date Tech did not relax even for a single moment.
After all, Hinata's back-row attack was also played exceptionally well; before this, Inarizaki had also demonstrated more than once the front-and-back staggered quick attacks coordinated between Hinata and Miya Osamu.
The buzzer sounded; Inarizaki made a substitution.
Fukami Subaru, number 16, was replaced by Hinata Shoyo, number 10, who entered the court to serve.
Hoshiumi rubbed his chin. "As expected, a new clutch server."
Most of Inarizaki's freshmen were actually already well-known in junior high. Whether it was Reo Mizuta or Fukami, they were both candidates Coach Aran had considered when looking for a setter, especially Fukami.
Karasuno itself places a high value on the quality of serves, making them highly compatible with Fukami, who is extremely skilled at serving, but Coach Kurosu had already scouted him first, so Coach Aran could only give up on him.
However, this guy's performance in offensive coordination could only be described as absolutely terrible; when Coach Aran first learned that the opponent had been scouted by Inarizaki, he was surprised for a long time.
As a result, when they went through the player roster this time, they unexpectedly discovered that the opponent was a Middle Blocker.
—Is this right?
Fukami agreed that it was correct.
He stood at the service line holding the ball, his gaze sweeping across the giants on the opposite side with burning intensity.
Alright, today.. who are we playing against?
Although the opposing Libero is a Little One, his saves are quite good; you can tell his fundamentals are decent.
As expected, it's still the setter; that setter's fundamentals are not only mediocre, but he's also a bit silly.
The whistle blew in his ears, Fukami lightly spun the volleyball in his hands before tossing it up with great decisiveness.
He's going to pull off the coolest serve!!
The next second, the ball flew past, its speed so fast that Sakunami Kosuke couldn't react in time.
But.. it went out of bounds.
Fukami clutched his head: "Just a little more—"
Inarizaki's supporters gave a symbolic few boos.
After the time-out, the service right returned to Miya Atsumu.
Cold sweat beaded on Sakunami Kosuke's forehead, he felt a tingling sensation on his scalp as he watched Miya Atsumu's figure on the opposite side.
It wasn't that he couldn't handle tricky Jump Float Serves, nor that he couldn't deal with powerful Power Jump Serves, but this kind of Dual Wield was still somewhat beyond his ability to handle.
In the last rotation, he only managed to receive that ball through pure luck, in the end, it was only through the subsequent offense that he managed to score and break their momentum.
This time.. Miya Atsumu probably won't give them the chance.
But fortunately, Miya Atsumu's ball was still aimed directly at him, having made full preparations, he barely managed to receive it.
“Koganezawa!”
Niokuchi, having secured the ball, spiked it toward Miya Atsumu on the side. The angle was so precise that it was something Miya Atsumu could not have handled at all while trying to consider his next offensive move.
On the other side, Unabara Uta lunged forward directly, attempting to save this ball for Miya Atsumu. However, Niokuchi's spike had such a tricky spin that he couldn't control it, in the end, Miya Atsumu had to dive to make the save.
Watching the ball fly toward the net, Miya Atsumu controlled his lunging body while shouting at the top of his lungs, "Shoyo!!"
Aone and Koganezawa's eyes locked onto the ball at almost the exact same time, both approaching from opposite sides and jumping simultaneously to contest it.
Niokuchi had emphasized many times before the match that Hinata was extremely good at playing this kind of tip.
In this situation, Hinata certainly wouldn't choose to dig the ball up and pass it out, so they had to keep up and fight Hinata for control of the ball.
Hinata lowered his center of gravity at the net, poised and ready to jump.
Aone, relying on his height and arm span, had already leaped without hesitation, reaching out with both hands toward the incoming ball.
In the previous match against Shiratorizawa, there was a time when he lost a one-handed joust to Goshiki Tsutomu, who used both hands; the Scorekeeper had also said that, when conditions allow, it is best to use both hands.
So.. this time, he will definitely win.
As the ball fell toward the net, Hinata, who was half a step slow, had already jumped, extending his body with one hand in preparation to touch the ball.
Aone stared intently at the ball in front of him, the sensation of the ball making contact with the hand as it was passed over was exceptionally clear.
Great, he touched it. Now all he has to do is spike the ball straight back into Inarizaki's court..
But at that exact moment, he suddenly noticed that Hinata didn't fully extend his arms in his field of vision; instead, they dropped inexplicably.
Hinata stared at Aone, the moment he landed, the ball dropped from above his head, but he made no attempt to save it; instead, he simply curled his lips into a smile.
Miya Atsumu, stabilizing his body and tilting his head slightly, narrowed his eyes, a very joyful smile spreading across his face.
The ball hit the ground with a soft thud.
Beside the court, Hoshiumi's expression instantly contorted, looking as if he had just swallowed a fly.
But Hirugami, standing beside him, spoke softly, "Oh my.."
The whistle blew in the next second, the Head Referee raised his hand to indicate that Date Tech's number 1 had the ball, Inarizaki scores.
The Inarizaki side erupted in cheers instantly, Suna also immediately gave a thumbs-up to Hinata, who had just straightened up.
Beautiful, Shoyo!
What a great bluff!!
Hinata stood tall with his chest out, his face full of pride.
He knew that his success rate in contesting the ball was average, but since his opponent would definitely contest it to prevent him from spiking a tip, he only needed to hold back, the opponent would almost certainly hold the ball.
This was something Shiratori and Bokuto had accidentally played during their time at Central Physical Education University, he had learned it!
Returning to the court, Miya Atsumu raised his hand and patted his head. "Nice play."
Hinata gave a cheeky grin. "Atsumu-senpai's save was amazing."
“Tsk, they actually played it that way.” Niokuchi, who hadn't rushed over to contest the ball, wiped the sweat from his brow, his expression looking extremely grim.
He turned his head to glance at the still-dazed Aone and couldn't help but sigh, "This Little One's mind is far too dirty; he truly is a fox from a fox den."
Koganezawa's eyes widened in shock as he exclaimed, "You can even play like that!"
You can even deceive the person holding the ball! That's incredible!
Niokuchi pointed at Hinata on the other side and said to Koganezawa, "Watch closely and learn from him."
Miya Atsumu glanced at Niokuchi, then turned his head, placing a hand on Shoyo's shoulder as he leaned down and said to him, "The opponent's blocking height is high, but they aren't very smart; you can try more feints and technical shots."
Jump balls consume too much stamina. Shoyo, even though you can run, you still need to conserve your condition appropriately; there are still tough battles ahead.
Hinata nodded. "Yeah, I understand."
Having said that, Miya Atsumu let go of Hinata and turned his head toward Unabara Uta. "That save at the beginning was quite good."