Asahina fell silent for two seconds, the smile that had been fixed on his face froze.
He silently turned around, choosing to act as if he hadn't seen anything, completely ignoring Miya Atsumu and letting Miya Atsumu's provocation fall completely flat.
Tsk," Miya Atsumu clicked his tongue lightly and instructed, "We have quite a few lineup adjustments for this set. Rishia will play Right Wing instead of Osamu, Suna will rest, Katsuya will play Middle Blocker instead of Suna.
Masaru Haseda, suddenly called upon, froze for a moment, unable to react immediately: "Me?"
Yeah, you'll play. Make good use of your height, follow Kuniharu and Heisuke's calls, try your best to restrict Hoshiumi's movement.
Your physical condition is at its peak right now, so your reaction speed and overall movement speed will inevitably give you the advantage. Make Hoshiumi move, just like how you practice with Shoyo in the team normally.
Masaru Haseda stood at attention: "Understood!"
Fukami cried out, "I'm a Middle Blocker! I want to play too—"
His first chance to start in his first year was stolen away! His heart ached!
Miya Atsumu ignored him and instead turned his head to look at Arima Shuji: "Hiiragi Tadashi, your receiving rhythm in the last set was good; just keep it up this set."
Arima Shuji nodded. "Okay."
After the simple arrangements were made, Miya Atsumu took the lead in walking toward the court: "In terms of our reserve of new blood, we won't lose, but we can't rule out the possibility that Karasuno might also bring in newcomers.."
But when it comes to individual ability, our Inarizaki is still stronger.
Hoshiumi also stepped onto the court at this moment, facing Miya Atsumu from across the net.
Standing in Position 4, Hoshiumi Hikari was the first to make a bold claim: "This set is the last one."
Miya Atsumu let out a sneer. "That's not a certainty. You'd better be prepared to play five sets, so you don't end up unable to get back up."
Scanning the members of Inarizaki, Hoshiumi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Changing your lineup at a time like this.. be careful you don't mess it up."
Atsumu didn't back down at all, tilting his chin up slightly with a look of intense confidence on his face. "As if. You should see who I am."
Coach Unabara had already moved a chair to the sidelines and sat down: "They're on the court, the tall ones from Inarizaki."
He had been staring at Tokura and Masaru Haseda from the very beginning; after all, they were the two tallest players in Inarizaki besides Suna, so naturally, their talent scouting started with those who had excellent height.
Coach Hiya recalled last year's Interhigh Junior High and spoke up, "They were first-year students, but I don't have much of an impression of them."
Coach Unabara waved his hand. "Anyone Kurosu takes an interest in won't be bad."
In powerhouse schools like Inarizaki and Itachiyama, which consistently rank among the top in the country every year, it might sound a bit exaggerated to say that as long as their starters want to, they can basically all pursue professional careers.
However, the treatment for V2 and V3 is limited. For students from schools that already possess a certain level of prestige, there are better career options, they don't necessarily have to play volleyball for the rest of their lives.
People like Oori from the previous Inarizaki generation, who had excellent height, all chose different career paths.
Thinking of this, Coach Unabara raised an eyebrow: "The Interhigh Junior High has already finished. Did that old fox Kurosu find anyone he liked?"
Coach Hiya couldn't help but laugh. "Inarizaki's recommendation letters haven't even been sent out yet; it won't be until after the National Sports Festival. Besides, you can't just find a talent like that whenever you want.."
Asahina, sitting on the Karasuno coach's bench, rubbed his chin. "Such unfamiliar faces."
Coach Aran said nothing, merely scanning the seven people on the Inarizaki court one by one to confirm their positions.
Karasuno made some player substitutions during this set; for the setter, they continued with Tokura Ria from the second half of the previous set, for the wing spiker, they substituted out Norikura Isao for the first-year newcomer, Kaku Ken.
The second half of a five-set match is destined to see significant player substitutions from both sides, but the step Inarizaki has taken is.. so massive it's somewhat baffling.
Asahina lowered his hand, his voice calm and composed: "We will deal with whatever comes our way."
“Inarizaki makes good use of clever tactics, but they are useless in the face of absolute strength, not to mention.. we aren't just gorillas with nothing but muscles in our heads.”
Sitting beside him, Norikura Isao looked up, seriously contemplating the image of a "muscle-brained gorilla."
For example.. someone like Hakuma-senpai?
Hirugami, who had also sat down on the Coach's bench after switching positions with Takahashi, said with a laugh, "Relatively speaking, Inarizaki has more gorillas, doesn't it?"
Asahina thought seriously about it and then nodded, "That's true."
However, as for something like brains.. having just one or two extremely useful ones is enough; after all, it is a much healthier situation for a strategist to manipulate a sufficient number of pawns.
There are too many people with brains, so conflicts or even collisions occasionally occur.
Miya Atsumu serves first.
Standing behind Kumagai, Hinata worked his shoulders and legs to loosen them up.
Meanwhile, Takahashi was somewhat at a loss, unable to stop the cold sweat from pouring down his forehead.
It was completely different from before; now, during Miya Atsumu's service turn, the ones providing cover were Kumagai and Rishia Heisuke. With these three people's height blocking the way, there was no possibility of a gap like the one Hinata had left earlier.
This also meant.. he was unable to observe Miya Atsumu's serve movements sufficiently.
Miya Atsumu himself was a sufficiently difficult dual-wielding server; with insufficient vision, he couldn't even make an adequate prediction regarding the type of Miya Atsumu's serve.
Forget it, I can't worry about all that.
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it; let's just take it one step at a time!
Takahashi grit his teeth, listening to the whistle ringing in his ears as he pushed his concentration to its absolute limit.
But in the very next instant, the ball suddenly soared and then dropped within his field of vision.
The next second, accompanied by a heavy thud, the ball flew directly over the net, aimed straight for the gap between Hakuma and Kaku.
Takahashi's mind went blank for a moment as he had originally predicted Miya Atsumu would continue to target the gap between him and Hakuma, but Kaku reacted quickly from the other side, lunging forward to cover the ball and executing a diving receive to save it.
“What a great first receive!” Tokura Ria praised, controlling the ball as she sent it directly to Hoshiumi Hikari.
Asahina had said that the absolute core of their offense in this set was Hoshiumi, they had to try to get the ball into Hoshiumi's hands as much as possible.
Tooling the block enough in itself can force the opponent to move, further achieving the goal of "exhausting the opponent's stamina."
Watching the ball fly into the predetermined position, Hoshiumi stepped forward with confidence, preparing to jump: "It's coming!"
Over here!
Rishia called out loudly to Masaru Haseda and Kumagai, the three of them quickly gathered and jumped in front of Hoshiumi Hikari, forming a powerful Iron Wall to block Karasuno's Position 4.
Aiming for the gap created when Masaru Haseda jumped too early due to nervousness during the block, Hoshiumi Hikari spiked the ball directly toward his left hand.
But Kumagai's reaction speed was incredibly fast; he thrust out one hand and forcefully intercepted the ball right in front of it.
Touch!
Startled, Arima Shuji hurriedly shouted, "Beautiful!!"
He stepped forward and got under the ball, ensuring it was delivered to Miya Atsumu's most comfortable setting position.
Masaru Haseda landed, pursed his lips, turned around to create enough distance for his approach.
He was too impatient.
Captain Miya Atsumu said that one must avoid being impetuous on the court.
He won't become a gap for the opponent to break through on the next ball, because.. he is on the court to help Shoyo-senpai's dream of consecutive championships, not to cause trouble.
Rishia Heisuke had already retreated to cover the gap in the back-row counterattack, while Hinata leaped up behind Position 4, preparing for a strong attack from the back row.
After Hoshiumi's attack failed to land, he glanced at Kumagai, then quickly moved to follow Bessho's movement just as Miya Atsumu sent the ball out, attempting to block towards Hinata's direction.
Miya Atsumu's set wasn't particularly high, but under Kumagai's front-row cover, the ball's speed was sufficient to create an effect, allowing Hinata to successfully create enough distance from Karasuno's block.
Despite having the height advantage, Hinata did not rush to spike; instead, he calmly scanned Karasuno's back-row receiving formation to confirm the opponents' positioning.
Kaku and Takahashi were both positioned quite far back, with only Hakuma-senpai standing a little further forward, Hakuma-senpai's receiving skills..
Hinata pulled back his strength at the moment of the spike, his palm lightly tapping the volleyball to send it flying with backspin, causing it to drop just behind the block.
Kaku Ken's speed in rushing over was ultimately a little too slow, Hinata scored with a spike.
Nice one! Hinata!
Nice play!!
The very first point of the opening provided enough momentum and effect, leaving the Inarizaki cheering section exceptionally excited.
Komori laughed with difficulty: "A backspin spike generated from the back row.."
"No, at that level, it can't even be considered a back-row attack anymore," Nishinoya said, unable to help himself while watching the TV.
Enoshita Chikara nodded. "Yeah, he basically jumped into the front row."
Although the set wasn't high, Hinata used part of the power intended for his vertical jump to drive forward; even though he jumped from behind the three-meter line, he ensured the dump would fall right past the block in the shortest possible arc.
That's terrifying.
Tokura shook her hands and let out a sigh of admiration.
Hoshiumi Hikari wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt, looking at Hinata with eyes full of admiration: "Such boundless energy.."
In the previous set, Inarizaki's tactical shift provided excellent protection for Hinata, his already exceptional physical conditioning seemed particularly prominent as the game dragged on to this point.
Hinata and Miya Atsumu high-fived, both very satisfied with their performance on that last play.
When the opponent's speed begins to drop, as long as you can maintain your own consistency, you can create a sufficient gap.
But.. as expected, the real heroes were Akuma and Atsumu-ge.
Atsumu used his serve to test Coach Kaku's reaction speed, but it was Kumagai's touch during that emergency that was the true key to changing the course of the match.
With teammates paving the way for him.. he certainly would not fail to live up to that trust and expectation.
“Atsumu-ge, hit a good one!” Hinata shouted, cheering for Miya Atsumu.
Miya Atsumu lightly spun the volleyball in his hands.
The goal of testing the Karasuno newcomers had been temporarily achieved, Hinata understood his intention perfectly; this ball.. was going straight for the score.
In the final second of the service turn, Miya Atsumu raised his hand and tossed the ball.
Komori felt disgusted by this.
The last ball was a buzzer-beater, this one was a split-second timing.
Inarizaki's "underhanded" style is truly a family tradition; Suna, Miya Atsumu, Miya Osamu all know how to play it.
For a first-year Libero whose physical conditioning is already starting to fall behind.. it's a bit too cruel.
Watching the ball fly toward the space between him and Hakuma-senpai, Takahashi was the first to call out, "I've got it!"
In any case, regardless of whether the ball could be received, it was better to call out first.
He lunged forward in a diving motion, attempting to do his utmost to ensure the ball could be received. His reaction speed was fast enough; the back of his hand successfully cushioned the ball.