After all, even if Hinata's technical skills are excellent, he still cannot escape issues like insufficient power caused by his physical limitations.
Compared to him, Hinata is still affected by the quality of the setter's toss in high-pressure environments.
However, this aspect has already improved significantly since Hinata began training his own strength, he will certainly be able to overcome this problem given more time.
But at this stage.. with the high intensity of their blocking pressure, Miya Osamu's heavy spikes are indeed a greater threat.
Glancing at Hoshiumi, who was clearly lost in thought, Miya Atsumu flashed a sly smile.
That being said, those things Hinata excels at, which are actually more on the track and field side..
He values endurance much more.
Chapter 367: The Three Hundred and Sixty-Seventh Fox
But that is a matter for later; the current problem is..
Facing Hoshiumi's increasingly sinister smile, Miya Atsumu struggled to keep a smile on his own face.
Has Karasuno set their sights on him?
It was one thing for Hirugami to stare at him, but why was Hoshiumi staring at him too!
But Hoshiumi really only gave him a single glance before turning his gaze away to scan over toward Ginjima Yui.
In Inarizaki's first receive formation, Miya Atsumu was well-protected, especially since Miya Osamu's receiving ability was very high, making it no easy choice to target him.
Relatively speaking, it's better to score by targeting Ginjima's side directly.
But..
Hoshiumi raised his hand to rub his chin, wiping away the sweat that was about to drip.
With his condition declining, he didn't feel confident about landing an ace serve and could only do his best.
Ginjima Yui shouted while adjusting his position to receive: "I've got it!"
Nice!
Miya Atsumu reached out to touch the ball, delivering it at top speed into the hands of Miya Osamu, who had already leaped in Position 2; this was the furthest distance from Hirugami, providing Miya Osamu with the most space to work with.
After all.. even if Miya Osamu's brain isn't as sharp as his brother's, he still has more than enough ability to handle Norikura Isao.
Feeling a sense of disgust, Miya Osamu vented some of his own frustration into Miya Osamu's spike, his heavy spike sent Norikura Isao crashing straight to the ground.
As the whistle blew, Miya Osamu's gaze silently shifted toward Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu looked openly at Miya Osamu; after all, Miya Osamu had no evidence, as he hadn't said anything just now.
"Tsk." Miya Osamu turned his head away.
Hinata cheered along, "That was so cool! Osamu-senpai!"
Miya Osamu nodded to him, "Good cover."
After successfully regaining the Service Right, Miya Osamu also took the opportunity to turn back to the back row.
Hinata rubbed his hands together, his gaze fixed intensely on Hirugami Yukio on the opposite side.
However, the two didn't have much chance to face off; Hoshiumi's back-row attack interrupted Inarizaki's service turn, Hirugami took the opportunity to shift to the back row.
In such a tense situation, Hirugami chose to play a tip this time.
But Arima, who had been tormented by Suna many times in the team, was quite calm and still managed to react immediately, successfully receiving the serve.
Having secured the ball, Miya Atsumu used Hinata's cover to immediately set the ball to Suna.
The moment Suna spiked, he used his waist flexibility to drive the ball straight into Karasuno's court, Hoshiumi dove to save it.
“Beautiful!” Asahina shouted in praise, turning his head to confirm Inarizaki's current positioning.
Bessho had already rushed from his original Position 4 to near his vicinity, ready to execute a back quick at Position 3 whenever he was called upon..
As Asahina leaned back slightly, Suna took a step toward Asahina's position.
But in that split second, Asahina sent the ball toward Hakuma, who was already prepared in Position 4.
Hinata tried to create distance from the net to attempt a touch on the defensive side, but his jump without a run-up made it difficult for him to reach the ball, ultimately, Hakuma Mebuki performed a super-reach spike.
Watching the shadow cast by Hakuma's broad frame above, Arima felt his breath hitch.
In terms of pure, unadulterated power without any technical assistance, Hakuma is currently the strongest player on Karasuno.
And he had a premonition that this ball would definitely be stronger than any previous ball.
But he couldn't give Karasuno the chance to score consecutively; he had to receive this ball.
It was simply that ensuring a successful receive in this set was meaningless, since Kumoita was much better than him in that regard.
Having already fallen behind in terms of fundamentals, unable to ensure the quality of every ball, he must use his relatively good physical condition to create opportunities for Miya Atsumu.
He only seeks to do his part.
But strive to contribute.
After all.. he is a senior.
Bang!
Bang!!
The heavy spike slammed directly into his body, sending Arima Shuji crashing backward onto the ground. He rolled backward with the momentum and immediately got up, preparing for the follow-up defense.
He couldn't make a better set, but.. this would have to suffice.
"Hmm.." Coach Unabara, standing by the sidelines, rubbed his chin with his hand.
Although a backward roll is a common method for self-protection, it is actually not recommended on the volleyball court because it can cause the chest to collapse and injure the lower back.
Hinata and Miya Atsumu and the others have been taught this very well; they know how to control themselves to avoid rolling over.
But for a Libero.. rolling with the momentum is the fastest way to rejoin the play, so one could only say it's a double-edged sword.
Miya Atsumu's shout rang out across the court: "Nice one!!"
Although this ball went slightly into the net, the height was sufficient to be set.
With a plan in mind, Miya Atsumu crouched to build momentum and jumped; as he extended his right hand, he used his reach to pull the ball back and set it just before it fell out of the setting range.
Before Bessho could even react, the ball was already in Hinata's hands as he jumped from Position 2.
Hinata's gaze fixed on Hoshiumi was incredibly intense as he swung his arm for a spike, sending the ball at an extremely high speed toward the side of Hoshiumi's feet.
Hoshiumi reached out to receive it, but the ball was simply too fast, in the end, he couldn't catch up to it.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scores.
Nice play!!
Nice one, Shoyo! Nice one, Atsumu! Nice one, Hiiragi Tadashi!
Ginjima turned his head toward Arima, who had just finished receiving the ball: "That was so cool! Hiiragi Tadashi!"
Arima shook his head repeatedly, raising a hand to point at Miya Atsumu, who had just completed a one-handed back-set from Position 2. "No, no, no, Atsumu is the one who's cool."
That kind of toss.. could even be called a complete display of skill.
Before Arima Shuji could even withdraw his gaze from Miya Atsumu, a flash of orange streaked through his field of vision, someone had already thrown themselves onto him.
“That was amazing! Arima-senpai! That was a full-power spike from two meters up! And it went right over the net!”
Suna raised an eyebrow, feeling strangely as if he had been poked. While he did indeed need to take the blame for the failed block, it made sense that it would be ineffective in a situation like that.
Arima didn't dare reach out, because in the next second, Hinata had already been hauled away by Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu looked at Shoyo with a smile: "Shoyo, what did you say before?"
Hinata froze for a moment before replying confidently, "I forgot."
He was just a little too excited!
Besides, he had been doing this for over a year now, it was Atsumu who had taught him; if anything, it was Miya Atsumu's fault, so there was no way such a habit could be changed in just a few days.
Facing Hinata's expression, Miya Atsumu felt inexplicably guilty for half a second before finally letting go of Hinata's collar: "Fine."
Hinata gave a grin, then raised his hand toward Arima Shuji.
Arima Shuji gave him a high five. "Shoyo, that spike was so cool. As expected of our Ace."
Suna had a brief exchange with Tokura, who had just subbed in, shared some of his findings from his probing with him.
The whistle blew to signal Suna's serve, the fast-paced match began once again.
Watching the ball fly back and forth between the two sides, Coach Unabara rubbed his chin and said, "If we're comparing them.. Karasuno's fundamentals are indeed better.."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tokura's serve smashed toward Karasuno's side of the court.
Although Tokura's serve was quite poor, it still headed toward Hakuma Mebuki.
Because they knew Tokura's skill level was poor, Karasuno provided no cover for Hakuma on their side.
After all.. if he can't even receive a serve like that, Hakuma might as well start over from scratch.
“What a great first receive!”
Asahina gave Hakuma Mebuki a lot of face, still offering a bit of praise for his mediocre, unremarkable toss.
“Give me the ball!” Hoshiumi shouted, moving to call for it.
Under Hakuma's offensive pattern, they were being suppressed by Inarizaki's defense to the point where they could barely breathe; he had no patience to continue dragging things out with Inarizaki's players, so he decided to find a way to take this point first.
Asahina did not hesitate for long; with Hakuma not in the front row, he decisively sent the ball toward Hoshiumi, who had already charged diagonally to the back of Position 4.
Suna locked onto his position, charging straight at him along with Miya Atsumu, after jumping with full force, he shut down Hoshiumi's spike.
Hoshiumi clicked his tongue lightly; Suna and Miya Atsumu were both very alert to his tooling the block, so he didn't have much of an opportunity.
As expected, it's better to just tip it over directly.
Having been watching his movements for a long time, Hinata stepped forward two paces, lowered his center of gravity slightly, raised his hands to pop the ball straight up.
“Nice play, Shoyo!”
Miya Atsumu gave a loud shout of praise, then, after dropping from the block, he found the perfect timing to set the ball directly to Miya Osamu.