Thinking of this, Miya Atsumu and Coach Kurosu, who was also contemplating this matter, looked up at the same time to see Tokura Yukihito handing out water cups to everyone.
They had never considered that Tokura's technique was poor, that he wasn't much better than Nekoma's grey-haired tall guy, but at this moment, none of that mattered.
All they needed was sufficient height, or at least to ensure the opponent's spike wouldn't feel like it was entering an empty territory.
At this stage, Tokura Yukihito's height does not exceed Suna's, but as someone with a background in dance, his wrist line is below his groin, his arm length is extremely excellent.
In terms of standing reach, he was even better than Suna, whose height was even superior.
He can handle the technical aspects and the timing of the Block; at worst, Rishia can be subbed out for Ginjima to play Left Wing to provide Hinata with cover and the necessary Strong Attack, while simultaneously assisting Tokura Yukihito in timing the Block.
Rishia, who was substituted out, could come back on during Tokura Yukihito's service turn to score critical points as a server; without the massive physical exhaustion of being on the court, his serve would become even better.
Feeling two intense gazes cast upon him, Tokura Yukihito felt a chill run down the back of his neck for a moment. Just as he stiffly turned his head, he met Miya Atsumu's eyes.
Tokura felt his vision go dark.
When he was a First Year on the Second String, he didn't have much contact with the other starters besides Hinata and Kumagai, so he wasn't within the scope of Miya Atsumu's targeting.
However, since he joined the First String, he has personally witnessed Miya Atsumu's irrational targeting of Kumagai Rishia and Unabara Uta on multiple occasions.
Hmm.. there might be a reason, but at least he doesn't know.
Now that Unabara Uta is injured and has left the court, this persecution won't descend upon his head, will it!
The next second, Coach Kurosu's voice rang out, interrupting the grand drama Tokura Yukihito was playing out in his head: "Yukihito, come here."
Tokura handed the remaining items to Kumagai, then quickly jogged over to the Coach's bench.
Coach Kurosu, having already had a brief discussion, exchanged a glance with Miya Atsumu, then spoke directly to Tokura Yukihito: "You'll start in the Third Set, taking Ginjima's position, Ginjima will play Left Wing."
Ginjima nodded, having no objections to the Coach's arrangement.
A bit slow to react, Tokura raised his hand and pointed to himself: "Huh? Me?"
Coach Kurosu nodded and instructed, "Yes, warm up your body properly. Once you take the court, listen to Ginjima and Miya Atsumu; I'm leaving Itachiyama's number 10 to you."
After confirming that Coach Kurosu really intended for him to start, Tokura Yukihito's mind went blank for a few seconds.
Coach, Mom, he's made it!
He's even made it to the national semifinals for volleyball!
Tokura Yukihito stood at attention, his face flushing slightly from excitement: "I will do my best!"
Seeing him so enthusiastic, Coach Kurosu was also relieved.
Relatively speaking, player nervousness is much harder to deal with; as long as there is enough fighting spirit, their performance won't go too wrong.
Moreover, Tokura Yukihito has strong execution; as long as he can keep up with the pace of Miya Atsumu and Ginjima Yui, there will be absolutely no problem.
Author's Note:
Inarizaki High School, Ginjima Yui (August 2013)
Position: MB Number: 5
Height: 180.9cm Weight: 74.1kg
Recent Troubles: Do I really have to be the one to call out the twins?
Ability Parameters [Inarizaki High School Third Year Summer]
Strength: 5 Serve: 7
Jump: 4 Receiving: 6
Explosive Power: 4 Diving: 5
Intelligence: 3 Setting: 5
Technique: 3 Spike: 8
Speed: 4 Block: 6
Chapter 346: The Three Hundred and Forty-Sixth Fox
Noticing Tokura's unease, Hinata reached out and patted his shoulder: "I'm here, don't be afraid."
Tokura lowered his head and looked at this rookie partner who had once fought alongside him in the Second String.
No.. the current Hinata is already an incredibly brilliant star on the court; the distance between him and his opponent is a chasm.
He shook his head. "I'm not afraid, just a little uneasy."
Hinata widened his eyes, disagreeing with his words: "That makes it even less likely! Have some confidence, Yukihito, you're amazing!"
Tokura has been learning blocking and spiking from Suna for quite some time now; since last summer, the Coach has been having Oori and the others look after him, having long held the intention of promoting him to the First String.
And as an expert in quick attacks and technical plays, he had served as a practice partner for Tokura Yukihito many times. As for Tokura Yukihito's blocking skills.. he thought they were impressive.
Tokura Yukihito smiled effortfully. "I'll try my best."
Hinata wanted to say something more, but the notification sounded behind him.
Both coaches had already submitted the starting lineups and rotation charts for the deciding set, the players took the court to confirm their positions and identities.
Seeing unfamiliar players stepping up on Inarizaki's side, the Itachiyama members were stunned once again.
Coach Himegomiya raised an eyebrow slightly. "Has Inarizaki changed their lineup again?"
She had an impression of this number 11; during the winter, she had followed everyone from Inarizaki to Itachiyama for physical fitness testing. Because his height was quite good, she had paid special attention to him.
However, from the preliminaries to the current tournament, she had not seen Inarizaki send that person onto the court, so it was highly likely that there was a serious deficiency somewhere.
For example.. this person hasn't actually played much volleyball or anything like that.
But considering that, no matter what, Tokura Yukihito is a second-year player, he certainly wouldn't play like a complete amateur.
Although Coach Kurosu indulged Miya Atsumu and the others most of the time, he was never ambiguous when it came to the major strategic directions that would ultimately determine the team's success or failure.
However, this move was indeed unexpected, making the adjustments they made in this set quite perplexing to a certain extent.
After finishing his re-examination, Coach Omimi finally returned to the court. Watching the obvious rotation adjustment from Itachiyama, he was somewhat surprised: "Itachiyama has adjusted their rotation."
Itachiyama has used the Ace's rotation at Position 4 for an entire season, now they've actually switched to having the Ace serve from Position 1?
Good job," Coach Kurosu said simply, handing him a bottle of mineral water. "It's highly likely Itachiyama wants to exploit our blocking, so they're pairing Sakusa with Ginjima.
“Although my original plan was to have Tokura handle Ishikawa, this way isn't bad either.”
Inarizaki's starting rotation remained unchanged, with the only difference being the selection for Middle Blocker. This adjustment regarding Itachiyama might be.. an unexpected blessing for Inarizaki.
Coach Omimi took a deep breath, struggling to pull himself together before finally sitting down beside Coach Kurosu.
They took a taxi when they went, but he was the only one coming back, so to save as much money as possible, he chose to take the bus.
And over here, the bus stop at the Sports Park was very far from the Indoor Gymnasium, so he had run all the way here.
While the two Liberos were exchanging positions and adjusting their stances, Coach Omimi said, "As I said before, Unabara wants to play and the doctor has prescribed the corresponding protective equipment, but I don't think he should take the court anymore."
After the doctor gave the diagnosis, he had relayed it to Coach Kurosu immediately, but he wasn't sure if Coach Kurosu had the time to look at it.
Coach Kurosu nodded. "I'll go to the hospital to check on the situation once the match is over. I'll leave the team in your hands here."
Coach Omimi replied, "Understood."
On the court, Sakusa had already taken his position for the approach, signaling that the whistle for the Serve would blow in the next moment.
Sakusa did not hesitate for long; after adjusting his rhythm, he decisively tossed the ball into the air.
It was known that Inarizaki's current Libero was very poor at handling spin serves, so he had no reason to let this weakness presented before him go to waste; he could simply aim directly at the Libero.
Arima certainly knew he was being targeted.
Currently, the Inarizaki back row is composed of Miya Atsumu, Ginjima Yui, Hinata; it wouldn't be a good situation regardless of which one becomes the opponent's target. Perhaps the only advantage is that Miya Atsumu won't be in the back row during Sakusa's service turn like he was in the previous set.
Of course, this also meant they only needed to ensure they could "get the ball up" basically; as long as the ball didn't fly too far away, they would have a chance to counterattack.
In the current situation, this was already the best answer he could give.
Watching Arima adjust his position and deliver a very mediocre First Receive, Hanae shook his head in the stands: "This is why I say Unabara's courage is truly unmatched."
Not everyone has the courage, nor the ability, to take on Sakusa's spin serve with a hard, direct reception.
Recalling things from a long, long time ago, Hanae sighed again: "But he really has.. had bad luck since elementary school."
He and Unabara Uta had a match in the junior class back in elementary school, in that match, Unabara Uta played as a Wing Spiker, but he couldn't take the court because he had diarrhea before the match. In junior high, Unabara Uta missed more than half a year of matches because he fell down the stairs and sprained his ankle.
Unfortunately, he was basically on Unabara Uta's list of opponents every single time.
So before entering high school, he had only heard Unabara Uta's name, there were very few opportunities to play against him.
Kanzaki comforted Hanae: "It's not a big deal. Maybe we'll see him back on the court, full of life, this afternoon."
Regardless of the outcome of this match, there will be matches this afternoon; one will be the Finals, a best-of-five series, the other will be the Third-place match, a best-of-three series.
Hanae nodded, "I hope so."
To be fair, no matter how many grievances existed between Municipal Kobe and Inarizaki, they were ultimately allies from the same place.
He hoped Inarizaki would win. That way, when he defeated Inarizaki in the future, he would be defeating a more valuable opponent, the sense of achievement would be even greater.
On the court, Komori received the ball spiked by Suna and passed it to Inamoto, who had already moved into his designated receiving position.
Inamoto breathed a small sigh of relief after receiving the ball, offered a word of praise, quickly followed up, tossing the ball to Ishikawa in the front row.
After confirming the attacker, Suna immediately moved in, jumping alongside Miya Osamu and Miya Atsumu to form a three-man Block in front of Ishikawa.
The height of this set from the setter was insufficient, Ishikawa's contact point wasn't as high as Sakusa's, causing him to lose his composure momentarily under the pressure of the Inarizaki three-man Iron Wall.
In the heat of the moment, he could only choose to attempt a dump, at the very least ensuring that the ball would clear the net.
Ishikawa's dump was too obvious, Arima's reaction was fast; he stepped forward and set the ball: "Atsumu!"
"Nice play!" Miya Atsumu jumped to set the ball while stepping back.
Suna and Miya Osamu each rushed to Position 2 and Position 3 to jump for a spike, while Hinata played from the back row at Position 4.
While Ogihara observed the movements of the Inarizaki members, Miya Atsumu gave a light touch, sending a Second Ball over.
Komori dove to save the ball, but the pass was a bit off.
Inamoto followed again, Ishikawa, who was preparing to launch a Strong Attack from Position 4, raised his hand to call for the ball: "Give the ball to me!"