But it was said that Coach Kurosu had already decided to let Osamu handle the subsequent draws, which basically sealed the fate of Miya Atsumu's luck with the draw.
Come to think of it, Atsu-kun was the only one with such terrible luck during the lottery at the beginning of the year..
After confirming the service order, both sides quickly submitted their rotation and starting position sheets to Coach Arakawa.
Taking his position on the court, Hinata's gaze swept across the opposing team's lineup, he felt a slight sense of surprise in his heart.
Unlike Inarizaki's almost fixed opening with Miya Atsumu in Position 2 as a back-row player, the opponents have now chosen to have Miya Atsumu in Position 1, which means Miya Atsumu's Service Turn will be the last one in this rotation.
This means.. Ushijima-senpai's powerful opening from Position 4 is more important than Atsu-kun's serve.
But it was true; the opposing Libero was the current national player, Heiwajima. In terms of form, Heiwajima was indeed at the peak of his career, Hinata did not believe Kageyama's Serve could score a point against him.
With the first receive being stable enough and the setter's skill being very high.. the Ace's strong scoring range can indeed pose a sufficient threat to the opponent.
Their tactical arrangements weren't that complicated; although Kageyama asked for his and Aoba's opinions, it was ultimately decided that Kageyama would be fully responsible.
Sakusa didn't say anything either; he wasn't the type to handle tactical arrangements at Itachiyama, mostly relying on the Setter's own ideas.
If the setter makes the correct decision, he just needs to execute it.
As for whether Kageyama can make the so-called "right decision"..
Over the past few days, he had already judged it with his own eyes.
After exchanging a glance with Ushijima Wakatoshi in Position 4 on the opposite side, Sakusa's lips curled into a slight smirk.
He hadn't played against Ushijima Wakatoshi in a long time, the arrangement for this match truly left him feeling somewhat excited.
Go for it, Kageyama! A killer serve!
Hinata placed both hands behind his head, loudly cheering for Kageyama as he prepared to serve.
He adjusted his state and exhaled a long breath.
Miya Atsumu had just told them that Kageyama's serve was quite good, Ushijima also expressed his agreement, so for now, they would treat him as if he were Miya Atsumu.
Hoshiumi, on the adjacent court, glanced over at Hinata's side before immediately turning his full attention back to the match on his own side.
Because not all of the U20 members were present, because the number of participants was limited, there were only two matches held during the concurrent tournament, while the remaining players watched and learned.
Although he also really wanted to watch Hinata and the others' match, since he had been scheduled to play, he had to devote himself entirely to it.
Spinning the volleyball, Kageyama licked his lips.
In the final second of the service time, he raised his hand to toss the ball, took a large step forward, landed heavily with a final step before the baseline, used the momentum to leap into the air.
What beautiful form.
He marveled inwardly at the beautiful movement, then adjusted his position following Kageyama's spike.
Unfortunately, the physical development and strength levels of high school students are quite a bit lower compared to adults.
Even though Kageyama's serve speed is top-tier among high schoolers, it was still manageable for him.
He had absolute confidence in his own receiving skills, choosing a position as a dual-attacker and setter from the very beginning, giving Kageyama no opportunity to target the setter, Miya Atsumu.
Miya.
"What a great first receive!" Miya Atsumu shouted in praise, watching the ball land steadily right in front of him.
He took a quick glance at Hinata's side to check the block configuration, then decisively and cleanly sent the ball toward Ushijima Wakatoshi at Position 4.
The first receive and the set were both delivered as perfectly as possible, the rest.. was time for the Ace's offense.
Hinata and Aoba lacked sufficient height, so the strength of their block was naturally greatly diminished; Ushijima could have easily broken through it with brute force.
Before Miya Atsumu could set the ball, Hinata, having read his movement, had already taken half a step forward to follow him.
Meanwhile, under Aoba's instructions, Hakuma and he completed their switch, with Hakuma Mebuki defending the line near the sideline in Ushijima's position.
Aoba is just a little bit taller than Hinata, so after switching positions with Hakuma, he still maintained the same jumping rhythm as Hinata, the three of them blocked in front of Ushijima, timing their jumps to reach their peak exactly when he did.
Even though Ushijima is a left-handed player, he did not have full confidence in being able to execute a powerful Line spike under such heavy blocking pressure.
Changing his strategy, Ushijima hit the ball diagonally toward the area near Hinata in Position 5, with the overall trajectory leaning toward a Sharp Cross.
Hinata stared at the ball, leaning back slightly to create distance the moment Ushijima spiked, managing to force a touch on the ball.
Touch!
And waiting over there.. was none other than Sakusa.
As a player who also excels at hitting special spins, he was sufficiently familiar with Ushijima Wakatoshi's spikes. Even if his own physical build wasn't strong enough, he could still absorb the impact of the ball relatively smoothly.
After all.. Ushijima's physical condition itself hadn't reached its peak yet, so he was still able to handle it, let alone the fact that Hinata managed to touch it.
Nice touch!
Sakusa lowered his body, his fast enough reaction speed allowed him to accurately catch the trajectory of this ball.
BANG!!
The sound of a heavy spike echoed throughout the entire arena as Sakusa controlled the ball, sending it flying toward the Attack Line.
Beautiful!
Kageyama retreated two steps to follow the ball, lowered his center of gravity, then suddenly leaped, raising his hands toward it.
A streak of bright orange appeared at the edge of his vision, in a perfect position.
In that case, he didn't need to hesitate much; he just had to follow his heart.
The position and height have been confirmed; the next part is the simplest.
—Set the ball.
The moment he caught sight of Hinata's silhouette, Bokuto reacted almost entirely on instinct.
It was that kind of Quick Attack; he was the closest, he had to chase it down..
But he couldn't catch it.
The crisp sound of the hit rang in everyone's ears, in the next instant, the ball had already hit the ground. The players from Heiwajima closer to that side instinctively reached out, but they failed to touch it entirely.
The whistle blew, Hinata's side scored.
Asagami, a U20 Middle Blocker in the waiting area, stared with wide eyes, a sentence in Kansai dialect flying from his mouth.
What the hell was that?
Chapter 399: The Three Hundred and Ninety-Ninth Fox
Bokuto was utterly defeated, kneeling on the ground, unable to get up: "I clearly.. saw it.."
Asagami, standing by the sidelines, scratched his head, still in a state of shock and unable to recover: "What just went past? That gave me a fright! What kind of spike was that!"
How did that just go through? That was way too intense! It was simply—
Under Miya Atsumu's somewhat expectant gaze, Asagami spoke earnestly, "This is even more exciting than the tonkatsu rice I had this morning!"
"Why is it always tonkatsu rice!" Aran raised his hand to cover his face.
Asagami said with a straight face, "Because that tonkatsu rice bowl is really delicious, don't you think so, Aran?"
He laughed heartily and agreed, "I concur, it's better than our club's cafeteria food."
“And that spike was truly terrifying, how did he pull it off?”
Since he was in Tokyo, Hirugami Fuku, who had been specially recruited alongside Heiwajima to bolster the U20 Middle Blocker class, approached and asked, "Heiwajima-senpai, didn't you watch Miya's previous match?"
It's that one, that one—Inarizaki's specialty, the legendary negative-tempo Quick Attack.
Heiwajima thought about it seriously for a moment. "You asked me to watch it before, right? But I just haven't had the time. I was planning to watch it in a few days.."
But it must have been even more shocking to see from a first-person perspective on-site.
Anyway.. he was deeply shocked.
It might have been because Ushijima's spike itself had immense power; that last play was incredibly fast from the first receive to the set, feeling as though Sakusa had taken the spin off the ball but hadn't completely neutralized its momentum, then Kageyama delivered a Quick Attack on top of that ball speed.
What's even more outrageous is.. someone actually managed to support that ball, even spiking a line shot that was incredibly close to the three-meter line, to the point where he didn't even have time to react.
Hirugami nodded in agreement. "Indeed.. it feels like this when you see it from up close."
He had observed when the Black Jackals and Inarizaki played before, but that last play was clearly much faster than the previous one.
Miya Atsumu curled his lip. "He actually managed to master it."
He looked at Hinata, who had just finished high-fiving Kageyama on the other side of the net: "How many days?"
Hinata counted on his fingers: "Five days? Or six days? But Kageyama should have studied it before too, right?"
Atsumu puffed out his chest and held his head high. "That means I won."
He had only spent five days researching setting back then.. No, it was just that he didn't sync up with Hinata as quickly.
After all, with him setting the example, it was understandable that Kageyama's progress was so fast.
"What do you mean we won? Didn't we just lose a point, Atsu-kun?" Bokuto asked seriously as he climbed up from the floor.
Hinata agreed, "That's right, it's a partial victory for us!"
Miya Atsumu remained silent for two seconds before choosing to ignore Bokuto: "What are you talking about? It's just one point; we'll get it back in a moment."
The gap in raw strength cannot be easily bridged, not to mention that their more obvious advantage lies in experience.
Setting aside the several players from the U20, the ones truly anchoring the team are Heiwajima and Hirugami. Even if he follows the coach's instructions and doesn't use Hirugami too much for offense, scoring must still be the primary goal during critical moments. Not to mention, Heiwajima's defensive capability alone is enough to support this team.
Komori also cheered for Kageyama: "Kageyama, hit a good spike!"
Aran, who was responsible for defending the other side, took a deep breath.
He had already visually gauged that last play, could at least say he had noted the speed and spin of Kageyama's serve.
Heiwajima's defensive capabilities naturally require no questioning; after testing them just now, Kageyama will likely give up on targeting that side, might even use his ball control to choose to target him specifically.
His last encounter with Kageyama can be traced back more than a year ago, compared to then, Kageyama's serve has clearly become much more mature.
However.. he has also grown tremendously compared to before.
He didn't play all those professional matches for nothing!
Bang!!