The sound of the serve echoed through the court. Having already adjusted his state, Sakusa tossed the ball decisively after a two-second wait, aiming directly at Miya Atsumu, who was being covered by Miya Osamu and Ginjima.
The volleyball flew across most of the court at a high angle, dropping sharply the moment it passed over Ginjima's head; the entire process was extremely fast.
Miya Atsumu clicked his tongue lightly, but this downward spin was still easy to handle. He decisively raised his hand, moving up to receive the ball.
After the heavy sound, the volleyball flew steadily upward and landed ahead.
Although it was a bit far from the Attack Line, neither Hinata nor Miya Osamu was near the Attack Line to begin with, so it didn't matter.
Miya Osamu and Hinata quickly exchanged a glance. As Hinata charged backward, Miya Osamu from the back row stepped forward, brushing past Hinata near the Three-meter Line.
Osamu lightly jumped to touch the ball, sending a back-set to Hinata the moment he moved backward.
Positioned right at the edge of the net, Hinata pushed the ball through the gap between the block and the pole in an extreme posture.
Komori, from the back row, dove without hesitation, using one hand to dig the ball up.
Although it looked like it was going out, he knew for certain that part of it would land on the line; that was his instinct as a top-tier Libero.
“Nice play!” Inamoto praised, then stepped forward to direct the Second Attack.
As Ginjima and Hinata lunged toward Ishikawa during his Quick Attack, Inamoto gave the ball a gentle touch, setting up a Second Attack.
Rishia Heisuke stepped forward and scooped the ball up with one hand: "Atsumu-senpai!"
Although it was quite off-target, looking at the whole set, it was actually a pretty good set.
Miya Atsumu stepped forward, lowered his center of gravity slightly, leaped. While leaning backward, he instead delivered a forward set.
Ogihara, having been deceived, was clearly flustered for a moment, while Ginjima took the opportunity of the ball hitting the top of the net and delivered a full-power spike, the sound of his hand hitting the ball being incredibly deafening.
Komori, being the fastest to react, held his breath the moment he scrambled up, lunged forward again by pushing off the ground, with a fluid and rapid motion, successfully received the ball.
Komori took a breath: "Cover!"
Sakusa, from the back row, retreated to a suitable position, then immediately stepped forward and rushed toward the front.
Hinata stared at his movements, then rushed forward to catch up with Ginjima, Rishia, the other three the moment he jumped.
Although the contact point of a back-row attack wouldn't be affected, the height at which the ball reaches the block would decrease, making it blockable.
But at the very moment of Sakusa's spike, he suddenly pulled back his strength, lightly hitting the bottom half of the volleyball.
The ball was lightly popped upward, passing over the net and the block before dropping toward the back row.
Arima dove forward and managed to receive the ball: "Atsumu!"
The called-upon Miya Atsumu stepped forward once again, setting a Quick Attack to Hinata.
Hinata attempted a short diagonal, but Sakusa, moving up from the back row, received it and sent it back to Inamoto.
Inamoto used a fake Second Attack, tossing the ball with one hand to Ishikawa in Position 4.
A heavy sound rang out as Ishikawa scored by tooling the block.
The whistle blew, the scoreboard, which had been stagnant for a long time, jumped upward at this moment; from the start of this match until now, Itachiyama had surpassed Inarizaki for the first time.
Inarizaki 23:24 Itachiyama, Itachiyama set point.
Upon landing, Ishikawa raised his hand almost immediately, announcing his victory to the entire stadium.
The opposing Itachiyama cheering squad was equally generous with their praise, their cheers ringing out incessantly.
Beautiful! What a great play, Ishikawa!!
Take it all in one go! Itachiyama wins!
Caught between the Itachiyama team itself and the cheering supporters behind him, Hinata wiped the sweat from under his chin.
He felt that the exhaustion from yesterday's two matches combined wasn't even as much as today's; not only did he have to keep moving to break away from Itachiyama's troublesome block, but he also had to rack his brain while spiking, thinking about how he could break through the opponent's solid back row defense.
Physically, he felt fine, but he felt like his brain was slightly overheating.
Miya Atsumu's voice rang out at that moment, carrying a reassuring strength: "Just hold on a little longer."
Hinata straightened up and let out a long breath. "I'm fine."
They absolutely, absolutely cannot lose the next point; as long as they can break Sakusa's service turn, they still have a chance.
Watching Itachiyama take set point first, Hirugami raised his hand to stroke his chin: "This is going to be bad.."
To have to play a third set after this much physical exertion.. for Inarizaki, it's a terrible omen.
Even though there weren't many long rallies, the Inarizaki spikers all performed quite a few strong attacks during this set, the physical exhaustion was quite terrifying. Especially Miya Osamu, who also had to handle defense; he looked much more exhausted than Hinata.
Moreover, Miya Atsumu had clearly made numerous attempts, but from beginning to end, he had failed to successfully widen the gap, was even overtaken by the opponents at the end of this set..
Hoshiumi was also very frustrated, his words becoming much sharper: "The blocking can't keep up as it is, the Libero was even replaced by a Substitute; the current Inarizaki simply doesn't possess the defensive level required for the Semifinals."
“Miya Atsumu's various adjustments are all aimed at maximizing his own offensive advantages, wanting to indirectly reduce the pressure on his team's defense by breaking through the opponent's defense.”
Hirugami sighed, "But their opponents are Komori and Sakusa."
Originally, even when Unabara Uta was present, Inarizaki couldn't create a large gap against Itachiyama, now that Unabara Uta is gone, it's even harder.
Even though they gained an initial advantage through Miya Atsumu's serve, the opponents slowly caught up and erased it.
Offense is the best defense—but that statement is built on the premise that you can actually rely on your offense to leave your opponent struggling to keep up.
The whistle blew again, signaling Sakusa to continue his serve.
Sakusa's expression was calm, showing little excitement or agitation from the comeback. He was like the eye of a typhoon, like the brief tranquility before a violent storm.
He lightly rotated the ball between his hands, waiting until the very last second of the service time before suddenly raising his hands to toss the ball up.
Standing less than a centimeter from the baseline, he leaped violently, pushing his height to a terrifying degree. His entire body arched backward like a bow, then he released the string—
Bang!!
The volleyball flew across the court like an arrow shot from a bow, covering a distance of over ten meters in an instant, struck precisely in the space between Atsumu and Osamu.
Sakusa's entire serve was meticulous, without a single unnecessary movement, as standard as if it had been copied straight from a textbook.
Just as Miya Osamu prepared to receive it, the spin inherent in the ball caused it to deviate for a split second, arcing through the air before dropping toward Miya Atsumu on the side.
Miya Atsumu's pupils dilated at this moment, his body instinctively drove him to reach out to receive it, but his unprepared posture became his greatest flaw when facing this volleyball carrying heavy spin.
The ball went out of control the moment it hit his arm, flying rapidly out of bounds.
Miya Osamu lunged toward the ball, exploding with his maximum speed in an instant, bypassing Miya Atsumu entirely.
But the ball was too fast, it looked as if it was about to escape his control.
Osamu stretched his body as much as possible, his usually calm expression twisting under the strain.
Please..
It has to hit!
Bang.
In the midst of a profound silence, the sound of the ball hitting the floor arrived first; his fingers were just a hair's breadth away from that chance for a comeback.
Sakusa's serve is an ACE.
The whistle blew immediately after, the scoreboard at the side of the court flickered before coming to a stop at Inarizaki 23:25 Itachiyama.
Koldorf, who had been resting on the Coach's bench, raised his hand and tossed his towel aside, then stood up and rushed toward Sakusa: "Great spike, Sakusa!!"
Coach Himegomiya also stood up in excitement: "Well played!"
Nice, now it's tied at 1:1, they can still play a deciding set!
Miya Atsumu tilted his head slightly toward the ceiling, took a deep breath, said, "Sorry, my bad."
He should have protected himself better, leaving Sakusa with no way to strike.
After both sides lined up to salute and switched sides, Hinata followed Miya Atsumu toward the Coach's bench: "Kami-senpai's serve is so powerful, I bet Atsumu-senpai wouldn't be able to escape it no matter where he is."
It's okay, we'll win it back in the next set.
Miya Osamu, who was even further behind, lowered his eyes and thought for a moment.
Just as Hinata said, with Sakusa's level of control over the ball's spin, he could definitely catch Miya Atsumu if he wanted to, because Inarizaki would never completely abandon their subsequent offensive positioning just to cover for Miya Atsumu.
In that situation, the error made by him, who failed to save the ball, was more serious.
Miya Atsumu tilted his head slightly toward him and suddenly spoke, "Don't worry, Stupidji, I'm a big person, I won't hold it against you."
Miya Osamu simply raised an eyebrow and said nothing; after all, he was the one who had made the mistake first, so it was only natural for the setter to have an opinion.
But.. this guy's expression is truly infuriating.
I'll finish off all of his pudding once the match is over.
Miya Atsumu still didn't know that his pudding was about to meet a tragic end, was still bowing his head to discuss offensive matters with Hinata.
However, there was very little room for adjustment in their offense; their main problem was the lack of good first receives, making it a fantasy for the setter to orchestrate any decent attacks.
Arima seemed somewhat powerless when facing an attack of Itachiyama's caliber. If one had to say.. perhaps having Miya Osamu play in the Libero position would be the best option for now.
Noticing Miya Atsumu was spacing out, Hinata reached out and tugged at him. "What is Atsumu-ge thinking about?"
Miya Atsumu replied in a low voice, "I was thinking that Osamu is such a useful brick; if only I could swap him out."
Because they were well-balanced in every aspect, they could be moved anywhere they were needed.
Unfortunately, the Libero is a specialized position and cannot be substituted as flexibly as players in other positions.
To use a Wing Spiker to fill the Libero position, they would have to confirm that both Liberos are unable to participate in the subsequent matches. Once a special substitution is requested, their two Liberos would lose their eligibility to play for the rest of the season.
Unabara Uta's situation is still unclear, so they cannot completely give up on the possibility of her returning this afternoon just for the sake of this match.
And..
After a brief moment of thought, Hinata suddenly reached out and tugged at him. Once Miya Atsumu leaned his ear closer, Hinata whispered, "I feel like when Suna-senpai is in the front row, Arima-senpai's receiving movement is a bit more stable."
Miya Atsumu did not respond to Hinata immediately, because Hinata was saying exactly what he was thinking about.
Arima's fundamentals are perfectly up to standard; having served as Hinata's practice partner for years, he has good adaptability to various quick attacks and technical plays. Although Sakusa's spike has a unique spin, theoretically, Arima shouldn't be too far behind.
He had Kumagai switch the Libero once Suna moved to the back row, which was actually because Arima failed to control Sakusa and Ogihara's offense during their first encounter.
If one had to say where the obvious difference lies.. it would be that Ginjima, who lacks sufficient height, is more frequently beaten by off-speed shots when acting as a middle blocker, which further exacerbates the defensive issues.
So to put it another way, as long as the issues with the block are controlled, things could improve, but Inarizaki currently has no better option than Ginjima..
No, there are.