In the moment Suna swept toward him, he pulled back with one hand, performing a fake second ball.
—Too crude.
Suna pulled back his gaze and took a step toward Itachiyama's Position 2; the true target of this pass was Sakusa, who was playing in the back row.
Miya Osamu and Suna both jumped opposite Sakusa. Sakusa decisively chose to avoid a direct confrontation with Inarizaki, snapping his wrist to create a high-arcing spin serve directed toward the front area near Inarizaki's Position 2.
Atsumu quickly stepped back, Arima dove from the back row to handle the ball.
Hinata raised his hand to call for the ball: "Give it to me!"
Seeing Hinata jump before Miya Atsumu could get the ball, Ogihara Ayato realized it would be a negative-tempo quick attack and took a step forward, subtly blocking the position where Hinata was located.
But he didn't rush to jump; even if he might not be able to keep up with Hinata from the back row, he absolutely could not act recklessly, because there was a high possibility that Miya Atsumu would send the ball to Suna at the center.
In the moment Ogihara's peripheral vision caught it, the ball flew up, in the split second of less than 0.1 seconds, Miya Osamu, who was less than a step away from Miya Atsumu, had already spiked the ball.
After a heavy thud, the ball crashed straight into Itachiyama's court, hitting Komori's hands as he performed a diving save.
The next second, the ball hit the net and fell again.
Inamoto reached out to grab it, but he still couldn't get the ball to a sufficient height, even letting it fly past the boundary pole.
Ishikawa rushed to dive, but he failed to control the ball properly, letting it fly past the boundary pole and toward the opposing side.
The whistle blew. Itachiyama failed to send the ball out after three touches, the Head Referee signaled that Inarizaki scores.
Hinata clenched his fists tightly. "Yes! First point!"
Although it wasn't a point he scored, it was a good start, he would rotate to the front row after this.
The match was so intense right from the opening, sitting on the Coach's bench, Tokura clenched his fists, his palms covered in sweat.
Coach Kurosu's voice rang in his ear: "Watch closely, I'll leave Sakusa to you in a moment."
Tokura tried his best to force a smile that wasn't too unsightly, nodding in response, "Okay."
Itachiyama's rotation adjustment was, for him, a ruthless increase in the difficulty of his task.
He felt that he could barely handle the original Ishikawa, but now, the strongest Ace of the high schoolers..
Tokura watched Hinata's figure running back and forth on the court, the words Hinata had just said echoing repeatedly in his mind.
I'm here, don't be afraid.
He suddenly recalled the words he heard while watching the match a few days ago.
[If Sakusa graduates, I wonder who will claim the title of the strongest.]
If we're talking about individual ability and stability, Goshiki from Shiratorizawa still stands out, but with Date Tech around, it might be hard for Shiratorizawa to make a name for themselves.
If we're being honest.. Aoba Haruka of Rakusan, Kanzaki of Municipal Kobe, the Little Giant of Inarizaki—those three would be considered among the top-ranked Aces among the current second years.
However, compared to Ushijima-senpai, who relies purely on power, these three are clearly more on the technical side.
[Saru from Fukurodani counts, but he's clearly not mature enough yet..]
Tokura slowly released his hands from his trousers, his entire state of mind calmed down considerably.
That's right, whether it was Hinata or Suna Osamu, they were all top-tier players in the nation. He had blocked many of their attacks and was able to adapt to the rhythm of such powerful offense.
At worst, Miya Atsumu will be there to back him up.. it'll be fine.
Even if a ball is difficult to block, it won't be harder than Hinata's off-beat quick attack, spikers who can hit higher than Hinata are truly rare.
Tokura clenched his fists again, his gaze toward the court steady and calm.
—He had nothing to fear.
Noticing his change in emotion, Coach Kurosu breathed a sigh of relief and gave a light smile at the same time.
The situation on the court was quite good; Itachiyama's incorrect rotation adjustment was a mistake delivered right to them on a silver platter.
Originally, Sakusa and Suna's blocks had been holding their own, but Ishikawa's level was clearly not keeping up. He had already been blocked twice by Suna since the opening, but unfortunately, Komori's follow-up was too fast, so they couldn't score.
One of the biggest problems for the first-year freshmen is their lack of experience, the other is that their bodies have not yet been fully developed.
What Coach Washijo was obsessed with was the latter; not a single player graduating from Shiratorizawa had any issues with their physical conditioning, Goshiki Tsutomu's stable performance was also built upon this.
It was precisely because of this—Hinata's physical conditioning being absurdly good—that he was targeted by both Itachiyama coaches so early on; the better one's physical talent, the greater the training volume the body can endure.
And this advantage in training volume was enough to provide Hinata, who had a weak foundation, with the conditions to evolve and grow stronger in a short amount of time.
It was also through this terrifying accumulation of training volume that Hinata was able to grow into a mainstay of Inarizaki in less than two years.
And Ishikawa clearly lacked Hinata's monstrous talent in this regard; his condition had noticeably declined as the match progressed, with his breathing rate and perspiration levels becoming abnormal.
In this situation, Ishikawa, who was already at a disadvantage, was even further unable to compete with Suna Osamu.
His decision to substitute Rishia was not just because he needed Ginjima to provide cover for Tokura, but also because he wanted to maintain the condition of one of his Wing Spikers through player rotations.
The whistle blew again, Hinata scored by tooling the block, the service right returned to Inarizaki, as Tokura rotated to the front row.
Arima, having been substituted out, quickly returned to the waiting area, Kumagai promptly handed over his water bottle and towel, ensuring he could fully adjust his state during the brief interval while the Middle Blocker was serving.
Arima let out a long breath and stretched his legs.
Having warmed up in the previous set, he was in good form this set, since Sakusa was not in the front row, he didn't have to launch many attacks, managing to just barely hold the Inarizaki back row.
The score hasn't pulled apart yet, with Inarizaki maintaining a half-step lead most of the time, but for the most part, it remains tied.
However, Sakusa had already moved back to the front row. He needed to observe Tokura's blocking status during this rotation of Suna's serve to ensure he could provide perfect coordination.
Under the gaze of the Inarizaki members, Tokura walked step by step to Position 4 in the front row, staring intensely at Koldorf directly across from him.
Koldorf looked back at him, not yielding an inch.
The moment the whistle blew, before Tokura even had time to raise his hands to provide cover for the serve, the ball had already come crashing down—it was a line shot so extreme it couldn't have been any more precise.
The ball fell precisely toward the backline of Itachiyama's back row; judging by its trajectory, it was an absolute line shot.
Ishikawa took two steps back, lowering his center of gravity to receive the ball: "Inamoto-senpai!"
Watching the ball fly up steadily, he breathed a small sigh of relief.
Luckily, Suna himself doesn't have much power and doesn't know how to perform a jump serve, otherwise he definitely wouldn't have been able to receive that ball.
Hanae remarked with emotion, "As expected of a powerhouse school's freshman starter, that pass was incredibly stable."
Unlike Kanzaki, Ishikawa's fundamentals are much better.
You have to realize that the hardest thing about Suna's serves is the tricky trajectory they take; being able to judge the landing area even under the pressure of a buzzer-beater is commendable enough on its own.
Feeling like he had been called out, Kanzaki raised his hand and scratched the back of his head.
But in the end, he still couldn't react, instead asked, "Do you have any impression of Inarizaki's newcomer?"
Hanae said expressionlessly, "I don't know them."
Itachiyama was preparing to coordinate an attack on the court; at this moment, Tokura, acting as a Middle Blocker, let his gaze rest on Inamoto for only a moment before locking back onto Sakusa.
He didn't rush his movements; even though he was a Middle Blocker, he wasn't the one directing the block right now. What he needed to do was wait for Ginjima to give the command, then follow up.
The next second, Hinata's decisive voice rang out: "Here!"
Without a second thought, Tokura followed Hinata's movement, shifting from the center to the space between Inarizaki's Position 2 and Itachiyama's Position 4.
Sakusa, having received the ball, suddenly leaped up, facing Hinata, who had already begun his approach and jump, Tokura, who was following close behind.
At the moment he jumped to his highest point, Sakusa's expression showed a brief flash of shock.
Wait.. He remembers that this number 11 is clearly not as tall as Suna, but why is this block height even higher than Suna's?
With a loud bang, Sakusa's spike hit Tokura's fingertips, was popped up, fell toward Inarizaki's back row.
Tokura shouted, "Touch!"
Miya Atsumu praised, "Beautiful!"
Coach Himegomiya exclaimed from the sidelines, "That kid has such long arms."
"Mm." Coach Utsunomiya nodded, his expression becoming even more serious.
Not only that, but at the very moment of jumping just now, Tokura leaped up on one foot, yet in the end, his two hands could remain at almost the same level; this sense of balance is no worse than Hinata's.
Moreover, his entire body stretched vertically quite a bit after the jump; he estimated that number 11's flexibility wouldn't be bad either.
Coach Kurosu gave a chuckle.
Tokura's raw data could be described as quite impressive, but as for his actual skill level..
One could only say he has a bright future.
After scoring a great point, Miya Atsumu simultaneously coordinated Hinata and Ginjima in the front row. Under Hinata's cover as a decoy, Ginjima Yui smashed through the opponent's single block.
Seeing the ball was about to go out of bounds, Komori dove nearby, pushing off the ground to cover a considerable distance, managed to save the ball.
The entire crowd erupted in an uproar.
They actually received that?!
Nice play!!
Incredible, absolutely incredible—
Inamoto quickly followed up to organize a counterattack, while Sakusa, who was not interfered with this time, sent a dump over under the cover of a heavy spike.
Suna's follow-up was a bit too slow, the ball hit the ground first, Itachiyama scores.
The Itachiyama cheering section erupted: "Beautiful!!"
Miya Atsumu raised his hand and patted Hinata and Tokura on their backs: "Nice job, keep it up. Take the next point from Sakusa."
Tokura stood at attention and responded loudly, "Yes! I'll do my best!"
Hinata raised his hand and slapped his chest with a loud thud: "Leave it to me."
He had just found his rhythm; with the ability to set up Tokura, he felt as if he had grown twenty centimeters taller.
Miya Atsumu nodded and said to the two of them, "Great, you've got plenty of energy."
Just like that first ball—ensure you get a touch whenever possible; you don't need to aim for a complete block.
If Sakusa's dump wasn't covered by the back row, that was Suna's problem, it didn't have much to do with the block.
If the block hadn't sealed off Sakusa's routes for spiking other balls, Sakusa wouldn't have resorted to a dump so easily.
Ginjima raised his hand to scratch his head: "Komori's reaction was too fast."