But in all these years, a top-tier golden egg that didn't even need polishing had never just jumped into her bowl.
She considered her own eye for talent to be quite good, she was willing to develop all kinds of players, but her luck with talent had always been mediocre.
Coach Kusubashi thought seriously, "Should I go and pray to the Inari God as well?"
Coach Himegomiya stopped shouting, his expression turning into one of horror: "Don't go, the Inari God is biased!"
Coach Kusubashi raised an eyebrow slightly: "Hmm?"
Coach Himegomiya spoke with deep frustration, "Our Iizuna team went to visit them, brought back a bunch of bad omens, then immediately tripped up at Haruko."
“This is all Inarizaki's fault!”
On the court, Coach Kurosu let out a sneeze, feeling a chill run down his spine. "Who's talking behind my back?"
He is in an excellent mood right now.
Hayakawa Industrial's offensive level is average, but their defense is quite strong.
For Hinata, who wants to take things to the next level right now, it is an excellent whetstone.
And it is precisely because of this that Nishizawa's skill level isn't overly prominent, ensuring he doesn't become a target like Hinata was last year.
Besides.. even if the Libero is targeted, it wouldn't be a big problem.
To put it bluntly, Nishizawa Hokuto is only a substitute; their true mainstay is Unabara Uta. Letting Nishizawa Hokuto come out as a decoy to conserve Unabara Uta's stamina would be very effective.
The whistle blew in their ears, Suna scored with a spike, the score for the First Set ended at Inarizaki 25:13 Hayakawa Industrial.
Looking at the scoreboard, Coach Kanoko silently raised his hand to cover his face, letting out a silent sigh.
He was very familiar with Coach Nekota, also very familiar with Nekoma's style, but Inarizaki's style was far from being soft like Nekoma's.
Nekoma's setter is ruthless, his schemes are deep enough.
But as for Inarizaki's setter.. whether he is ruthless or how deep his schemes are, he couldn't tell in this match, but his hands were definitely sharp enough.
They had never encountered that rhythm of setting before, it was dazzling.
The Little One Ace was the most ruthless of all; he not only toyed with their Libero, but also toyed with their Block.
His team's Middle Blocker and Libero were visibly exhausted.
Asakura felt like his head was going to explode: "What are we going to do about that Little One? He's too fast for the block to keep up. Can we just not chase him?"
Libero Wajima quickly refused, "No, I can't keep up either."
To deal with that kind of quick attack, either the block must be able to limit it, or the libero must be able to judge and receive it, but right now, both paths are blocked.
What's even more infuriating is that their block can't possibly focus all of their energy on Hinata, since the other spikers are just as difficult to handle.
While everyone remained silent, the Middle Blocker Akamatsu, who had not spoken until now, suddenly said, "I have a proposal."
“What?” Fukaya Kenro looked at him.
Akamatsu said seriously, "Let's go back and properly study Karasuno's blocking patterns."
Asakura agreed, "Good idea."
It should be noted that ever since Inarizaki used their current lineup to overcome Itachiyama's offense and defense systems, Itachiyama has not won a single match against Inarizaki.
Karasuno is the only team among those they can currently use as a reference that has truly defeated Inarizaki.
Moreover, Karasuno's style is completely different from Itachiyama's. Rather than Itachiyama's brilliant, well-balanced approach in all aspects, Karasuno actually pursues extreme strength in their blocking.
By disrupting their defense to limit the possibility of Inarizaki launching an attack, not to mention that, in theory, Karasuno could replicate about sixty to seventy percent of Karasuno's blocking style.
Even without players who are 1.9m or 2m tall as middle blockers, as long as they can learn that coordinated blocking style, they could actually place enough restrictions on Inarizaki.
Fukaya Kenro pointed out the issue: "But we might not necessarily face Inarizaki at Haruko."
Akamatsu said with total seriousness, "Then wouldn't that be more than enough?"
After all, at this stage, no team's offense will be stronger than Inarizaki's, being able to deal with Inarizaki means they can also deal with other teams.
Karasuno is a great model; they are already skilled at blocking, so we could easily follow their example.
Miya Atsumu tidied his hair and looked at Coach Kurosu beside him. "I have a feeling we might face many 'Little Karasuno's' in the future."
Coach Kurosu nodded. "I feel the same way."
Miya Atsumu frowned. "The other teams are fine, but the real problem is.. what if Itachiyama starts learning it too?"
Coach Kurosu remained silent.
Hinata put down his water cup: "But we were going to defeat Karasuno anyway, so there's no need to fear other teams imitating Karasuno."
"True, clumsy imitations will only serve as our experimental subjects." Miya Atsumu was convinced.
Since the Ace and main offensive weapon had said that, he had no reason to continue worrying about this.
Rather than hindering their ascent to the top, this behavior would be more like handing them experience points.
Very well, he now wishes more teams would play like this, such as Nekoma or Itachiyama..
Chapter 409: The 409th Fox
While Miya Atsumu and the coach were filling out the rotation schedule for the Second Set, the reliable Hinata-senpai looked toward Nishizawa Hokuto, who was still wiping away sweat.
Nishizawa Hokuto, how are you feeling? Have you found your rhythm in the match yet?
When Nishizawa Hokuto looked over, Hinata even winked at him, his eyes full of anticipation.
Nishizawa Hokuto thought seriously for a moment, organized his words, spoke, "Yes, I feel my body heating up."
To be honest, he didn't feel much during the pre-match meeting or while watching the match footage. Moreover, because of his nervousness, he didn't fully hear or understand everything Miya Atsumu and the Coach said.
But after playing a set against the opponents, some things that were once unclear suddenly became understandable. Roughly.. he could guess what the opponents intended to do and provide a faster physical reaction.
Hinata's eyes lit up: "Oh, I get it! That means after that, receiving will feel much more natural."
He had originally been worried that Nishizawa Hokuto would go too hard during his first appearance, causing his own already insufficient stamina to be depleted even faster, potentially leaving him unable to play later on.
Nishizawa Hokuto nodded. "Yeah."
After asking Nishizawa, Hinata turned his head to look at Miya Atsumu and Coach Kurosu.
Coach Kurosu understood perfectly and wrote Nishizawa's name down once again.
His original plan was to let Nishizawa play one set, since after all, Nishizawa's physical stamina isn't particularly good. But if Nishizawa wanted to keep playing.. it wouldn't be a bad idea to use this as an opportunity to practice.
Thinking of this, Coach Kurosu was even more satisfied with Hayakawa Industrial.
The second set began with Hayakawa Industrial serving first, this time they chose S1.
Kanayama watched the Inarizaki members across from him intently, letting out a soft breath.
They had managed to reach some sort of agreement, since this set wouldn't be an advantage for Inarizaki, they would have a chance to control the momentum.
Coach said that the Libero Inarizaki is using now is likely a novice, that this is their best weak point.
Kanayama's gaze slowly fell upon Nishizawa Hokuto, who was still warming up his joints.
The whistle blew in his ears, the Head Referee signaled for the serve, causing the Inarizaki members on the opposite side to also halt their movements.
Tossing the ball and taking his approach, Kanayama jumped from a position nearly twenty centimeters from the baseline, raising his hand to spike the volleyball that had been tossed into its designated position.
The contact point was slightly to the right of the center of the volleyball, aiming directly at the space between Nishizawa Hokuto and Rishia Heisuke.
The result of their discussion was that number 17's reaction speed during receiving was not fast enough, his play was quite conventional—a complete Academic Style.
This also meant that his performance would be relatively poor when facing balls that required a decision.
But before Kanayama could process the information he had gathered, Rishia Heisuke stepped back diagonally without hesitation, yielding the space for the receiving movement to Nishizawa Hokuto.
Nishizawa stepped forward with one leg, extending his arm and pressing his wrist from a lateral lunge position to pop the ball straight up.
It wasn't a typical dig used to handle a power serve; instead, it was a forceful redirection of the energy, using angles and a bit of reactionary force to control the ball's landing direction.
A.. remarkably bold and confident way of handling it.
Kanayama's eyes widened, but the ball had already been controlled and sent precisely above Miya Atsumu's head.
Having confirmed the ball's position, Nishizawa Hokuto let out a soft sigh.
Becoming the foundation upon which his seniors take flight.. has he fulfilled his own responsibilities properly?
“Yu Team!”
"What a great first receive!" Miya Atsumu praised.
He stared at the volleyball falling into his field of vision; through his hands, which were shaped almost like an inverted triangle, his gaze locked onto a flash of orange behind Suna at Position 4..
The Middle Blocker Akamatsu's pupils suddenly contracted.
They had just discussed and analyzed Karasuno's blocking patterns; compared to a single-core blocking pattern where one player makes judgments to block, Karasuno often relies on two to three blockers thinking independently.
That style of play, where three players stand separately and adjust their blocking positions with precision according to the situation, places extremely high demands on a player's individual ability and proficiency.
Although they had some confidence in their own blocking.. that pattern still couldn't be replicated at will.
However, there were certain points that could be learned.
—For example, the aspect of independent thinking.
But some people's brains just don't work very well.
Over there, Mano had already jumped to defend against Suna, making it absolutely impossible for him to account for Hinata's back-row attack.
Akamatsu cursed Mano inwardly for jumping before seeing the set, hurriedly rushed over to try and block Hinata.
But it was already too late.
As everyone knows, when the First Receive is stable enough..
Inarizaki is invincible.
Bang!
A crisp sound of the ball being struck rang in everyone's ears. By the time Wajima caught a glimpse of it in his peripheral vision, the ball had already hit the ground; neither the blockers nor the libero could keep up with Hinata.
Hinata, having landed, turned his head to look at Nishizawa Hokuto and raised his hand toward him. "Nishizawa Hokuto, what a great first receive!"
Nishizawa walked over, raising his hand as well, the two of them high-fived heavily: "Great play, Shoyo-senpai!"