He turned his head toward Tokura: "Yukihito, when you block, keep your arms extended straight up. Don't bring that habit of spreading your arms to the sides like you do when you're dancing onto the court; don't do a victory pose."
Keep your hands down as much as possible. That Gloomy Seaweed Head on the other side is an expert at tooling the block; you absolutely cannot give him the opportunity.
Tokura stood at attention and nodded vigorously in response, "Understood!"
These things were actually old news, but he was still somewhat uneasy and made a mistake out of habit.
But next time, he will definitely provide a better block!
Gloomy Seaweed Head looked up at Miya Atsumu, his gaze incredibly sharp.
Miya Atsumu acted as if he hadn't seen it, slightly turning his head to avoid Sakusa's gaze.
After Tokura adjusted his block once more, he didn't give Sakusa another opportunity to target him; his height and long reach became his strongest weapons, providing touches that made it much easier for Arima Shuji in the back row.
Unfortunately, the score remained deadlocked, Itachiyama gave Inarizaki no opportunity to score consecutive points.
After a brief exchange of rotations, the Service Right returned to Ishikawa once again. Sakusa returned to the court, glancing sideways at the current tied Score.
Hinata also withdrew his gaze.
The situation in this set was actually much better than the previous one. In the last set, aside from opening with a bit of a score gap, they were at a disadvantage the whole time, but Itachiyama's frequent scoring streaks quickly leveled the score and eventually allowed them to take the lead.
This was enough to demonstrate the overall stability of Itachiyama's performance, this good form was very persistent; they even performed better and showed a more significant advantage as they reached the end of the set.
They absolutely cannot keep playing like this; they must seek opportunities for consecutive points and cannot allow Itachiyama to keep the score so tightly contested.
Arima retreated to the back row, raising his hand to receive the ball smashed toward Miya Atsumu.
Considering that Miya Atsumu did not have enough opportunity to move forward for a follow-up offensive play, Arima Shuji did not send this ball toward the front row's attack line, but instead sent it toward the back baseline.
Miya Atsumu doesn't only have to set balls before or after the Attack Line; as long as he doesn't hit the First Receive or have his movement path completely blocked, he only needs to set the ball to a part that Miya Atsumu can reach.
Of course, that is on the condition that the receiver can control the ball.
Miya Atsumu stepped forward and jumped near the nine-meter line, twisting his whole body to send the ball toward the front of the net.
He used his wrist to give the ball a rapid spin, supported by his own immense strength, the ball's speed did not diminish even after traveling the nine-meter distance, landing steadily in the center.
Hinata, who had already jumped, swung his arm to spike the ball. The speed was so intense that Koldorf, whose reaction time had slowed due to exhaustion, failed to keep up entirely.
The ball slammed straight into Itachiyama's court, Inamoto lunged sideways, barely managing to save the ball.
He called out to his team's setter and opposite, "Inamura-senpai!"
But his body blocked Inamura's path as he rushed over. In the heat of the moment, Sakusa jumped from his nearby position and reached out to touch the ball.
His setting skills were not very good, so in this situation, he could only manage to send a mediocre set toward Position 4.
Koldorf, having secured the ball, raised his hand to spike it toward the open space in Inarizaki's back row, but Suna, having anticipated this, had already moved in from the other side, his arms precisely blocking the ball's path.
The ball was slammed back into Itachiyama's court by Suna, resulting in a score for Inarizaki's block.
What a block by Suna!!
Nice!
Nice play!!
Cheers rang out incessantly. Suna glanced sideways at Koldorf, a look of victor's arrogance on his face.
His block scoring rate in this match was higher than Koldorf's.
Compared to Agatsuma, his successor is lacking in physical conditioning, blocking technique, speed, making him.. quite comfortable to play against.
Suna rotated to the back row, while at the same time, Arima Shuji and Tokura switched out for each other.
Stepping back onto the court this time, Tokura's mood was much more relaxed than the last time.
After confirming that the opponent was not someone he was completely unable to deal with, his confidence grew significantly.
A notification sounded from the sidelines, Rishia Heisuke switched names to step up and serve.
Watching Rishia walk up, Hinata shouted at the first possible moment, "Heisuke! ACE!!"
Rishia nodded and took his place at the service line, holding the volleyball as he prepared for his approach.
Returning to his most familiar position as the Server, the sense of helplessness brought on by the tension of the match's situation faded significantly.
Now he doesn't have to consider the management of his stamina for defense and offense later, nor does he need to worry about anything that happens after the serve; his only goal is to score from the serve, that is all.
The whistle sounded in his ear. With an extremely calm mind, Rishia Heisuke bounced the ball on the floor and caught it in his hands at the fifth second.
As the serve time reached its final second, he tossed the ball up, took four large steps, then leaped with full force at the baseline, his arm extension fully extended.
Don't worry about how he lands; give everything he has to pursue an ACE!
Bang!!
The deafening sound of the collision echoed throughout the entire arena. Gritting his teeth, Komori took a sudden side step and used one hand to touch the ball right in front of Inamoto.
According to the original plan, after using one hand to pop the ball high, he should have rolled sideways to leave the front court, clearing a path for Inamoto to move forward. But..
The moment his arm made contact with the ball, Komori, who had raised his center of gravity in preparation for a roll, was sent reeling backward by the heavy ball, which was far beyond what he had expected.
—It's over.
Komori thought this was bad, but it was already too late to adjust.
His body collided with Inamoto behind him, the two of them tumbled together in a heap.
The ball flew high and fell toward the net, Sakusa didn't have time to worry about the two of them; he took two steps forward to compete with Hinata for the ball.
Hinata's speed was even faster than his, he had already jumped, reaching both hands to press down on the ball from above.
In the next instant, Sakusa tracked the ball with his hands, but it still slipped through his grasp, falling toward his side.
Using his excellent flexibility, Sakusa extended his leg at the last moment to save the ball.
Inamoto, scrambling up on all fours, rushed forward and jumped near the net to set the ball.
On the other side, Koldorf raised his hands to lightly tip the ball, sending it on a dump over Tokura's head.
Miya Osamu stepped forward, using both hands to receive the ball and send it toward the Attack Line.
The members of Itachiyama on the other side of the net had already recovered from their initial state of confusion, a three-person block had already gathered at the net, waiting at any moment for Miya Atsumu's set.
After performing another back set feint, Miya Atsumu suddenly sent the ball straight ahead.
As Koldorf and Sakusa's gazes followed the ball upward, Hinata, who had originally been behind Miya Atsumu, had already bypassed the volleyball at an even greater speed, leaping into the air on one foot at another location more than nine meters away, preparing to spike.
After the orange lightning streaked through his peripheral vision and reappeared in his sight, Koldorf was momentarily stunned.
Wait, he remembered Hinata wasn't on the other side..
But it was too late for him to think again; he could only dive toward that side following his body's instinct.
The volleyball flew over his fingertips, without even giving him a chance to touch it.
Komori dove from the back row to make a diving save under the ball, but the ball flew straight back toward Inarizaki.
"Opportunity Ball!" Miya Atsumu shouted, while simultaneously signaling Rishia to receive the ball.
Watching the ball fly forward, Miya Atsumu stepped forward quickly, using his fingers to adjust the ball's position, precisely sending it toward the space above Position 4 where Hinata was currently located.
He didn't set the ball to Hinata's highest contact point, because the speed of this ball was a bit too fast, Hinata didn't have enough time to create sufficient approach distance.
But.. it was enough; at least he could give Hinata enough space to adjust.
Hinata leaped up violently at the net, his perfect arm extension providing enough airtime to meet the ball.
Itachiyama's triple block quickly followed up, shutting down his path for a Kou Chokusen. Koldorf's height and arm span are both superior to Ogihara's, after Itachiyama's rotation adjustment this round, he will also be forced to face Koldorf, making his original advantage of hitting over the block even harder to achieve.
Komori had already moved up to the side, providing subtle support from the front row, staying on guard against his short diagonal and dump.
At this moment, Hinata did not have absolute confidence that he could score.
If another Rebound occurs, it will likely end the same way, so there must be another way.
Looking back, he must have known exactly what to do.
In his field of vision, Koldorf's hand pressed down slightly, already crossing the net to prevent him from tooling the block. In fact.. he was even closer to the ball than the ball was to him.
In this situation, what must be done to break the deadlock?
Memories of opponents met across the net flashed by, Hinata's pupils suddenly constricting, in that instant, his gaze locked onto Koldorf's hand, which was very close.
The spiking hand suddenly pulled back its strength, letting the volleyball get even closer to the block.
Koldorf was stunned; although he suspected it was a mismatch between Hinata and Miya Atsumu, if he were to touch the ball in this situation, it would be ruled an over-the-net hit, resulting in a point for the opponent.
His expression sharpened, he quickly pulled his hand back to avoid direct contact with the volleyball.
The boy in his field of vision suddenly lowered his eyes slightly, in the next second, he felt something being pressed into his hands.
As he pulled his hand back, he was pushed backward by the impact, his body, which had already passed its peak height, falling naturally, yet the volleyball maintained a high angle as it dropped back into Inarizaki's court.
Hinata, who landed first, didn't even have time to complete his full deceleration before forcefully propelling himself back up into the air.
—With the obstacles cleared, his field of vision was wide open.
With Itachiyama's block completely unable to adjust, Hinata leaped again and spiked the ball straight down, aiming for the defensive gap in Itachiyama's back row caused by the block's failure to secure the kill.
Even Komori, who wasn't that far away, couldn't react in such a short amount of time; by the time his eyes flickered over, the ball had already slammed heavily onto the ground.
Bang!
The moment the whistle blew, Hinata landed, bending his knees to stabilize his center of gravity.
Koldorf looked at his own hands in near disbelief, feeling almost dazed.
What just.. happened?
Aoba Haruka, sitting in the stands, covered his face with one hand and pointed his other finger at Hinata on the court: "Those people are right, this guy is definitely a ninja! A ninja! And his name is even Hinata!"
After thinking seriously for a moment, Harukawa countered, "But if it's a copy, shouldn't his name be Ugokunami?"
"There's no difference!" Aoba Haruka adjusted her sitting posture, but her tone carried a hint of unwillingness.
And Hinata is even more cunning than me; he even used a net touch to trick that Middle Blocker, forcing the opponent to create an opening for him to operate in.
It wouldn't be quite right to call it copying, since this style of play is itself an adjustment made by utilizing the rules based on the rebound; he simply found this line of thinking first.
As long as one has solid fundamentals, replicating it isn't a difficult task.
Relatively speaking.. Hinata's ability to create his own opportunities when none exist is what's truly terrifying.
Harukawa nodded. "After all, they're from Inarizaki. When it comes to playing tricks.. their players are all incredible."