The abundance of attacking options forced Koganezawa and Niokuchi to delay their jumps by half a second.
And in that very instant, Miya Atsumu had already made contact with the ball.
He leaned his body slightly to the side and sent the ball over the net with quite a casual motion.
The ball slammed lightly against the floor, making a sound that caused one's breath to catch.
—Miya Atsumu scored with a Second Attack.
“Nice one, Atsumu-ge!!” Hinata cheered.
However, he felt that Heisuke had just contributed a textbook-level transition between front-row and back-row offense and defense, but unfortunately, it was completely wasted.
But being able to score is a good thing; he can continue to try this style of play in the future!
The stands on Inarizaki's side erupted in cheers, contrasting sharply with the dead silence from the Date Tech side.
The score gap widened further; their Iron Wall was completely unable to restrict Inarizaki's offense.
Ginjima, who had originally prepared to showcase his heavy artillery power, landed on the floor, the feeling of spiking into empty space while in a full-effort state made him unable to help but click his tongue in frustration.
On the other side, Rishia also turned to glance at him, the two shared a silent look.
Shiratori sat in front of the computer with his knees hugged to his chest, curling himself into a large ball to leave as much space as possible for the flailing Bokuto.
He said softly, "Atsu-kun is in a great mood today."
Bokuto nodded heavily, pointing at Miya Atsumu on the computer screen, who was putting his arm around Hinata's and Rishia's shoulders while saying something, said, "Indeed, Atsu-kun is smiling super happily."
Shiratori sighed, "It's not because of that.."
Having watched so many of Miya Atsumu's matches, he knew very well that Miya Atsumu would only perform a Second Attack at such a high frequency when he was in a state of "completely losing himself in the game."
But it was true; his teammates were all in excellent form, the first receive was on point, the opponents were a team with a very strong block.
And in such a situation, using the existing conditions to tear the opponent's Block into pieces.. just thinking about it makes one feel refreshed.
Shiratori looked at the computer screen with a smile.
And these.. were exactly why he had been captivated by Miya Atsumu and Hinata from the very beginning.
That volleyball, filled with love and freedom, is what his heart longs for.
Bokuto held up his pillow and cheered, "Ohhh, Shoyo is going to serve again! Go for it! An ace serve!"
Hearing Bokuto's voice, Shiratori stopped laughing.
After a long silence, he asked in a low voice, "Is it called a killer serve because it hits you in the back of the head?"
Hinata's serve is still very immature; it can't really be called a killer serve.
Bokuto quickly caught the key point: "Huh? Hit in the back of the head? Was it Atsu-kun's?"
Shiratori, who had forwarded that video to everyone at Central Physical Education University and Fukuda General, rested his chin on his hand. "Probably."
Hinata's third serve failed to score again, Miya Osamu's back-row attack was caught by Niokuchi, who, along with Ginjima, restricted Miya Osamu's spike, ultimately causing Miya Osamu's spike to go out of bounds.
In the stands, Inamura couldn't help but say, "Even with Hinata moving to the back row, Inarizaki's offense is still so difficult to handle.."
Komori speculated, "It's because that Position 1 also moved to the back row."
The Number 1's intuition is very accurate. When he and Hinata are matched up, Hinata's offensive power in the front row is restricted quite a bit.
Sakusa added, "Suna too."
Suna and Hinata were basically right next to each other, meaning Hinata had to face the threat of Aone for almost the entire duration of the front row play.
As for himself, he was the type who excelled at manipulating the ball's trajectory, Aone's precise intuition was just enough to handle Suna's spike.
But Aone left the court after rotating to the back row, while Hinata's lethality in the back row did not diminish in the slightest; in fact, because the attention on him decreased in the back row, he was able to score frequently through surprise attacks.
Koldorf said, "Hinata and Position 4's switch just now was incredible."
If it were him, he might have gone toward Inarizaki's Position 2 just now. After all, such perfect setting is rare, generally speaking, a setter wouldn't choose to waste it.
But Miya Atsumu is no ordinary setter.
His setting was unpredictable, many times, he would actually choose to do the exact opposite.
Inamoto raised his hand and covered his mouth; just watching him from the sidelines made him feel so nervous he wanted to vomit. "So scary.."
With Ginjima's heavy artillery at Position 4, followed by Miya Osamu providing support from the back, the Ace and the Left Wing Spiker on the other side can flexibly switch their roles.
But in the end.. Miya Atsumu actually chose to perform a Second Attack!
The terrifying Miya Atsumu, the terrifying Inarizaki.
His head ached.
Niokuchi said his own head hurt too, he even couldn't control the slight sense of weakness spreading through him.
Compared to Karasuno's constant high-pressure state across the entire court, Date Tech's block had obvious periods of weakness.
Their Block strength is concentrated on him, Aone, Ginjima, while the Middle Blocker on the other side, Fukiage, is only average and cannot keep up with the height.
In the previous Miyagi qualifiers, Shiratorizawa, with only a single core, was broken down by them through targeted attacks on their Ace, Goshiki; even if the blocking on the other side couldn't keep up with the intensity, it wouldn't have been a problem.
And although Karasuno has multiple cores, their overall offensive strength isn't quite sufficient; Fukiage and the others are enough to handle them.
But now, facing Inarizaki, who had been in a state of continuous offensive dominance, their strengths could only barely cope, their weaknesses were being completely demolished.
Moreover, Inarizaki's defense was even more powerful and terrifying than what they had seen in the previous footage.
The quick attacks they took such pride in, achieved through their tall setter, somehow didn't seem to work against Inarizaki.
Niokuchi raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his chin and let out a soft sigh.
How can we even play like this..
There is absolutely no hope if things continue like this.
Coach Unabara, standing by the sidelines, suddenly spoke: "Date Tech's overall coordination is indeed quite a bit behind Karasuno, but.. there is still much to look forward to in the future."
There are many schools famous for their defense, such as Nekoma and Hayakawa Industrial, but among them, only Date Tech and Karasuno rely purely on their Block.
The former is a perennial powerhouse on the national stage, while the latter, due to its inability to maintain a top position within the prefecture, has a student talent pool that is not as strong as the former's.
Although the coaches of both schools underwent changes in recent years, Coach Aran of Karasuno himself came from the professional leagues.
Compared to Date Tech's young Scorekeeper, Coach Aran and his team have had a smoother journey; he also established sufficient prestige within the team very quickly, transforming Karasuno into what it is today in just a few short years.
Coach Hiya sighed softly, "But I'm afraid.. there's no way to give Miyagi a second national tournament spot."
They had long been aware of the situation in the Miyagi region, but due to various constraints, there was no way to increase the number of national tournament slots.
Regarding the allocation of slots, they need to take into comprehensive consideration the size of the prefecture, its population, the historical performance of the teams within it.
Among those that met all the requirements for additional slots, one was Kyoto, the other was Fukuoka Prefecture.
Unfortunately, Kyoto rejected it themselves, over in Fukuoka, except for Fukuda General, the level of other schools fluctuates too much. Fukuda General has too many talented players concentrated in one place, so the overall competition isn't particularly intense.
Teams from Miyagi have always had great historical records, the last one meets the requirements.
But Miyagi's population is truly limited; even when comparing major cities, the population of Kobe City in Hyogo Prefecture is nearly five hundred thousand greater than that of Sendai City, not to mention the significant populations in surrounding areas like Amagasaki.
In terms of total population, even among regions that already have two slots, Hyogo, which is relatively small in scale, is still nearly twice the size of Miyagi.
And since the powerhouse schools in Miyagi themselves did not mass-import players from other regions, with all their talent emerging naturally from Miyagi's own fertile soil, the total number of players did not experience excessive inflation.
After several comprehensive evaluations, Miyagi's idea to increase the number of slots was completely rejected.
Unabara also sighed, "It seems we'll just have to travel further north."
However, this task would be crossed off his to-do list in a few years.
The players he led were of extremely high quality, the senior team had seen several consecutive years of poor performance under their current coaching staff; the current Head Coach was also preparing to resign due to his failures.
According to the proposal discussed by the Volleyball Association, the plan is to have him lead the players who will have moved up to the U22 category by then, transferring him to the senior team as head coach.
Once he moves up to the senior team, the task of talent selection can be set aside to some extent. At that time, he can simply focus on the professional leagues, as there will be more people responsible for that part.
After all, for youth teams with so many divisions, some of which change every one or two years, the selection of talent is originally the number one and most important task.
Watching the intense match on the court, Coach Hiya asked softly, "Aone from Date Tech, what do you think?"
Coach Unabara shook his head slightly. "His height and intuition are very accurate, his execution is quite good, but.. he's only just up to par in every aspect."
As for who his favorite Middle Blocker was.. aside from the ones who were two meters tall, it would have to be Suna.
He has high execution, a sharp mind, top-tier observational skills; his only flaws are that he's a bit short and, at times, lacks sufficient aggression.
But comparing to last year, Suna's performance in Inarizaki's recent matches has been quite good.
I wonder if it's because he has matured quite a bit since becoming a Third Year, but the sharpness of his Block has increased exponentially.
But ultimately, what he wanted most was Hirugami Yukio.
—A perfect player who, once an adult, would be at least 1.95m tall and possess blocking intuition on the same level as Suna.
It's just a pity that Hirugami himself has little interest in volleyball, having already rejected their invitations twice.
It was a pity, but he didn't feel particularly regretful.
After all, interest is the best teacher. Forcing something that isn't meant to be isn't sweet, forcing someone to come here.. it could very well exacerbate team conflicts and lead to even more serious problems.
Players like Hinata and Miya Atsumu, who love volleyball with all their hearts and are willing to give everything for it..
That kind of driving force originating from "love" can drive them to go even further.
As cultivators, they are also willing to provide them with the corresponding resources.
Coach Unabara suddenly spoke up, "After this IH is over, have a chat with Suna."
If he has any intention of continuing to play volleyball, let him join the training camp at the end of the month along with Miya Atsumu and Hinata.
Coach Hiya nodded. "Mhm."
They had also selected many players from teams that had never made it to the nationals this time, such as Shiratorizawa's Goshiki, Karasuno's Kageyama, Morinji's Chikatani..
There was even Bai Ze, whose fundamentals and skills weren't particularly good, but who possessed great height, a love for volleyball, immense motivation.
I actually want Karasuno's Nishinoya too, but Yaku has no intention of leaving, so our current Libero situation is sufficient.
Coach Unabara rubbed his chin, thought for a moment, said, "And as for Nishinoya.. how should I put this.. he's a bit too free-spirited? In terms of his playing style and personality."
Coach Hiya, who had also watched the Miyagi match, expressed his agreement: "It might also be related to Karasuno's lack of a mature mentor; we'll see again in winter."
Coach Unabara laughed heartily, feeling in high spirits: "I'm already looking forward to it, this year's midsummer."