The service right passed to Fukiage, Aone and Sakunami switched positions, returning to the court.
Suna flexed his hands, then slightly bent his waist, lowering his center of gravity as he watched the group on the other side of the net.
They didn't need to provide cover for the back-row receivers.
First, Miya Atsumu is currently in the front row, second, there is no one in the back row worth targeting.
Even Hinata, who is currently in the back row, can actually handle a large portion of an opponent's serve on his own, not to mention that Rishia Heisuke is responsible for covering him.
He lowered his center of gravity primarily so that the players behind him could clearly observe the direction of the opponent's serve; after all, the Date Tech players were all quite large, they could provide sufficient cover for the serve just by standing there.
Fukiage's serve was mediocre, not difficult to deal with.
Rishia Heisuke stepped forward to block in front of Hinata to receive the ball for him, while Hinata simultaneously circled around from the side, charging toward the front row to prepare to jump for an attack behind the three-meter line.
Aone, who was responsible for the block, almost immediately locked his gaze onto Hinata.
Currently acting as the blocker, he imperceptibly moved a step toward the edge of the net alongside Hinata, ready at any moment to block the quick attack.
Right now, Miya Osamu is still in the front row, so it's not impossible that Miya Atsumu might coordinate a Double Quick.
Even Suna is still in the center preparing to attack; if the tempo is fast enough, it could turn into a triple quick attack.
Obara also moved close to Position 4.
Hinata prepared for a back-row attack, but Suna and Miya Osamu had already moved together toward Position 2 to exploit the gap in front of the setter, so no one was there to provide cover for Hinata.
Even for a Quick Attack, considering the distance between the back row and the net, they could still keep up.
With a thud, Hinata took his final step.
At the same time, he bent his knees, lowering his center of gravity completely and swinging his arms back, intending to jump.
On the other side, the moment Miya Atsumu's hand made contact with the volleyball, he perfectly neutralized its spin and altered its trajectory, delivering a precise set toward the front.
Back-row quick attack.
As Obara made his judgment, Aone also moved in to follow.
As the two approached Position 4 of Inarizaki, they lowered their centers of gravity and jumped along with Hinata the moment he leaped upward.
By the sidelines, Hirugami narrowed his eyes. "Something's wrong."
Hoshiumi, beside him, maintained his usual expression, quietly watching the confrontation unfolding on the court, but he suddenly burst into a smile the next second: "Beautiful."
Just as the two players from Date Tech left the ground, Hinata did not jump, but instead lowered his body once again.
Obara's pupils contracted; he had already guessed what Hinata was going to do.
—A one-person time difference.
In the match against Shiratorizawa, Goshiki had used this technique before, eventually fooling Koganezawa and forcing a point.
Hinata is currently in the back row, standing in a position just a hair's breadth away from touching the three-meter line.
His approach just now was so fast that it was difficult to control where he would brake; even the slightest slip-up would have resulted in a foot fault.
In this situation, he not only controlled his position, but he also created a time difference.
What terrifying body control, what terrifying sense of balance..
So.. how could that be possible?
Hinata tilted his head back, quietly watching the shadow cast down from above.
His mouth hung slightly open as he gathered strength and suddenly leaped from where he stood just as the Date Tech Block reached its highest point.
Miya Atsumu's set was incredibly precise; after adjusting the spin and height, it landed exactly where he would be jumping after his timing play.
Actually, this point was already quite obvious; it was just that their opponents failed to notice it entirely.
And his body control..
He considered himself quite good at it, his experience in beach volleyball had further strengthened this ability.
It's just a back-row time difference; it's not difficult once you've mastered it.
As he reached the peak of his jump, the Block from Date Tech had already begun to descend, the two sides missed each other perfectly.
But just as Hinata was about to spike, Aone, who had already landed, forced himself into the air once more.
He reached out a single hand, extending his body to try and touch the ball.
He was originally performing a back-row attack, there was still some distance between his spike and the block.
Aone seized that tiny opportunity and kept up once again.
Hinata's expression didn't change; he simply pulled back his strength slightly at the moment of the spike, his gaze precisely locking onto Aone's outstretched hands.
Bang!
A loud thud rang out as the ball hit Aone's fingers and bounced out of bounds.
Hinata scored by tooling the block.
Nice play!!
A time difference and tooling the block! That was so cool!!
Shiratori smiled. "Unfazed by danger, composed and calm."
Chapter 319: The 319th Fox
Watching the score on the scoreboard jump up by one point, Rishia immediately raised his hand and rushed over: "Beautiful, Shoyo! That was amazing!"
Having watched Hinata's entire offensive process from close range below, he had to admit that he was truly feeling his blood begin to boil.
That flexible offensive state, the calm response to the opponent's sudden additional defense.. it was just like a professional player!
Facing Rishia Heisuke's eager gaze, Hinata raised a hand to scratch his head somewhat bashfully: "Hehe.."
He puffed out his chest and held his head high, his chin practically pointing toward the sky. "It was nothing special, really."
Rishia was not stingy with his praise, still savoring the moment: "That was so cool, truly the Ace among Aces."
Miya Atsumu walked over and, as usual, held out his hand to Hinata.
Hinata's attention shifted away from Rishia almost immediately, he bounced over to give Miya Atsumu a hug.
While hugging Hinata, Miya Atsumu looked up and shot Rishia Heisuke a provocative glance.
Rishia, looking a bit bewildered by Miya Atsumu's gaze, had a look of confusion written all over his face. He looked at Miya Atsumu, then at Hinata, finally pointed at himself.
He hadn't done anything! Why is Atsumu-senpai glaring at him!
Could it be that without him knowing, Atsumu-senpai blamed him for something!
Miya Osamu turned his head to look at Suna beside him and asked a profound question, ".. He looks like a complete jerk. Does he even remember he's the Captain?"
Suna gave a scoffing laugh. "He probably forgot about it long ago."
Osamu narrowed his eyes. "So, did Heisuke offend Atsumu? He has always been steady and reliable, hasn't he?"
He could more or less guess the reasons why Unabara Uta and Kumagai would be targeted by Miya Atsumu; the former was mainly due to issues on the volleyball court, while the latter was most likely because of what happened at the very beginning.. well.
But Rishia Heisuke shouldn't have any reason to be targeted by Miya Atsumu, right? That tiny bit of friction on the volleyball court hadn't reached the level of Unabara Uta.
"Who knows?" Suna said, appearing indifferent.
After all, Miya Atsumu was someone who bit anyone he encountered; there weren't many juniors who weren't afraid of him.
“My touch was good just now. I thought I would step on the line, but I didn't make an error.” Hinata whispered beside Miya Atsumu.
Atsumu-senpai's set was also super amazing; it landed perfectly on my hitting point right after my timing gap.
Miya Atsumu lifted his chin. "Of course, look who I am."
Hinata spoke up proactively, praising him: "He's the high school's best setter! The most amazing one!"
Miya Atsumu's chin tilted even higher.
After complimenting Miya Atsumu, Hinata stole a glance at Aone-senpai on the other side of the net: "As for Aone-senpai.."
Ugh.. damn it, I'm still so jealous!
Miya Atsumu, who was still basking in Hinata's praise, was momentarily stunned. "Huh?"
"Aone-senpai is so tall. Even though he misjudged it at first, he was actually able to jump again and catch up." Hinata's expression turned serious.
If I hadn't adjusted my tooling of the block, I really might have been touched, then it would have become an opportunity ball for the opponent.
He was actually truly startled just now, but fortunately, he had already prepared for the possibility of problems arising, otherwise he absolutely wouldn't have been able to react immediately.
Of course, a large part of it was due to relying on having a long hang time to allow for subsequent adjustments.
Aoba Haruka grimaced, "Wow, that's insane."
Can that Little One really have such terrifying hang time even when jumping from a standstill??
Harukawa, the current Captain of Rakusan, raised his hand to stroke his chin. "Indeed, it's beyond ridiculous."
The approach could be understood, but from a standing position..
Aoba turned his head, clutching the Captain's arm, pointed at Hinata, saying, "Captain, you must stay glued to him during your blocks this afternoon."
Date Tech's Aone was already formidable; his keen intuition and judgment even allowed him to make the right decisions when facing Inarizaki's quick attacks.
But even so, Date Tech's overall block still couldn't keep up with Inarizaki's offensive intensity.
Rakusan's overall level of blocking was only mediocre to begin with; if they were to be broken down by Inarizaki, things would turn very bad once they fell into a defensive position.
Harukawa patted his hand: "Don't worry, don't you still have me?"
Date Tech's block is actually more than enough, but their back-row receiving and defense aren't keeping up.
Hirugami placed his hands on his hips and said softly, "After all, when it comes to volleyball, defense is a collaborative effort between the receivers and the blockers; having only a powerful block is far from enough."
Hoshiumi crossed his arms over his chest: "Balance is the strongest, right?"
Hirugami curled his lips slightly, his eyes lowering as a faint smile appeared: "That's exactly right."
Therefore.. Karasuno's defense will have no gaps, they will never allow Inarizaki to launch an offense as if they were in an empty territory.
On the sidelines, Coach Sakunami Kosuke glanced at the scoreboard, which had already reached 17:12, his tightly clenched fists slowly relaxed.