Unai didn't react for a moment: "What?"
The other person explained, "In dances like bullfighting, there are many lifting movements, most of the time, the male dancer uses his strength to support the female dancer as she runs across the floor. You can't do it without some strength."
Unai nodded seriously, giving him a response: "I've learned something."
Seeing that someone was finally taking his words seriously, Teacher Gojo was very happy.
The whistle blew on the court, Inarizaki took the lead with 8 points, entering a time-out.
Oikawa Tooru exhaled softly, stretching his neck: "We still have a fight ahead of us."
Rakusan has prepared a sufficiently thorough game plan against Inarizaki; Inarizaki certainly won't be able to play as comfortably as they'd like in this match.
—Though he didn't think Rakusan could truly win.
Captain Harukawa stretched his neck, glanced at Aoba Haruka beside him, then looked at Hinata on the opposite side: "Speaking of which, the short players all have incredible stamina.."
Miyazaki Sho replied, "If you don't have stamina, you're finished."
He grimaced as he watched the coach wrap tape around his sprained hand. "Jumping and spiking are already physically exhausting—嘶! At the same height, the process of jumping for a block is much easier than for an offense, not to mention when a Middle Blocker only plays half the court..嘶—Ow, ow, ow—"
“Whether it's Haruka Arai or that Little One on the other side, if they can't jump, they'll have to say a complete goodbye to the position of Spiker.. Ow! Ow!! It hurts!! Coach, take it easy!”
Coach Natsume was heartless, brushing off one of his hands to turn and tie his other hand instead.
After drinking some water, Aoba Haruka used a towel to vigorously wipe her face. "Inarizaki must be planning something to make their Ace less active, so they'll have more energy left for tomorrow's match or something like that."
“Hinata's offensive intensity has clearly dropped a bit compared to when they played Shiratorizawa yesterday, but instead, numbers 4 and 11 are very active.”
Aoba Kureha, who was half-squatting on the ground, looked up at her brother: "Then do I still need to keep chasing him?"
“Chase, why wouldn't we chase him?” Haruka said calmly. “The more he doesn't want to run, the more we must force him to jump and run.”
He looked at the Inarizaki members across from him with a gaze that was almost indifferent, yet his tone carried a hint of grit: "Since we won't be able to win this match anyway, there's no need to think about what comes after. Kureha, just press him as hard as you can."
It wasn't because of any desire to cause trouble for Inarizaki, it was just.. if a match ends and you haven't even seen the opponent at their strongest..
It would be a bit too embarrassing.
Kureha opened her mouth to speak, but in the end, she didn't say anything.
He looked at Haruka's profile and asked softly, "What do I need to do?"
Aoba Haruka's response was quick: "You all need to improve your positioning to limit their playstyle, make sure you control your hand positioning when blocking. Hinata is very good at using individual time difference and tooling the block. Don't let him trick you, don't give him any chances; make him realize that as long as he doesn't reach over the block, there's no way he can spike the ball through."
Aoba Kureha nodded. "I understand, I'll do my best."
Among the substitutes, the first-years whispered to each other, "That's strange, those two actually aren't fighting?"
Another person replied, "It really is rare to see Kureha being so submissive to Haruka-senpai.."
Captain Harukawa turned to look at them and laughed, "Haruka and Kureha actually get along very well."
Aoba Haruka rolled her eyes and stood up, clutching her towel. "Who's on good terms with him?"
He gave a kick to Aoba Kureha, who was still crouching there dazing off. "Go sit down."
Across the net, Hinata was also grimacing in pain: "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts—Coach, go easy on me, ugh—"
After bandaging Hinata's finger, Coach Kurosu clapped his hands. "Alright, be careful in a moment, don't get injured again."
Chapter 436: The 436th Fox
Looking at his middle and ring fingers, which were tangled together, Hinata fell into thought.
Rishia leaned in and looked at him with a very worried expression. "Will it affect your spike?"
Hinata moved his hand, trying to adapt to the sensation of being restricted and inflexible: "Probably, I won't be able to receive properly anymore."
However, because it was during a match, there was no time to properly apply ice; his fingers were already somewhat swollen, which was already affecting his mobility.
In this situation, it is actually very easy to get injured again due to improper movements, which is why it was necessary to stabilize it.
After confirming that there were no major issues with his touch, Hinata looked up and smiled at Rishia: "It's fine, it won't have much of an impact."
My ball control won't decrease too much, I'll adapt as quickly as possible.
Today's match will definitely require some effort to overcome, but I'll go back and apply hot compresses properly; there shouldn't be any problems tomorrow.
Coach Kurosu didn't give the Inarizaki members any specific instructions; he simply fulfilled his duty by checking on everyone's physical condition.
Although their schedule for this tournament wasn't particularly terrifying, they had still played for two days.
Moreover, the pressure only increases as the matches progress. Playing two sets is manageable, but once it goes to a third set, their physical stamina might collapse if they are forced into frequent rallies to catch up.
There is a world of difference between playing two sets and playing three or more. If today's match can be won 2-0, it would be the best-case scenario for tomorrow's Finals.
The match between Karasuno and Itachiyama was quite intense; from the perspective of Oikawa and his teammates, this had essentially served as the perfect buildup.
After carefully considering the situation over at Karasuno, Coach Kurosu turned and instructed, "Finish this quickly; don't drag it out."
Hinata raised his "four" fingers: "Understood!"
Aoba Haruka glanced at Hinata's hand, then turned and nodded to Aoba Kureha.
A finger injury meant that Hinata's ability to play technical balls had decreased, at this very moment.. it could be said that fate was on their side.
Win this match and seize the national runner-up title they haven't reached in a long time.
The whistle blew, the referee signaled for Tokura to serve.
Tokura stood by the sideline holding the ball, in the next second, the prompt sounded: Inarizaki requested a substitute.
Tokura, letting out a slow sigh of relief, jogged to the sidelines and took his number plate from Fukami Subaru.
The service turn after a time-out is difficult to pace, especially since his serve is quite poor; he can't even successfully execute even the most basic tactical serves.
Tokura cheered loudly for Fukami: "Go, Subaru!"
Oikawa Tooru held the player roster in one hand and said expressionlessly, "Yeah, Middle Blocker."
Kito couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Hahaha, this roster is filled out quite freely."
Oikawa Tooru sneered, "However, this player is quite famous. He graduated from a prestigious junior high school and was once named the best Server in the prefecture."
I remember he played as a Setter in junior high, but his setting was terrible; he just tossed the ball blindly.
Kito wiped his face. "Then his position can indeed be anything."
Anyway, since he's only being used as a Server at this stage, what specific position he takes doesn't really matter.
However, considering the points Oikawa Tooru raised, transitioning to a Wing Spiker would actually be very effective. After all, having a strong serve means their spiking ability won't be too poor, being able to handle setting would make their cover play very effective.
Oikawa Tooru looked at Fukami Subaru, who was preparing to serve, commented, "Given Inarizaki's current player pool, once Hinata's year graduates, they could actually switch to the Karasuno model of combining blocking and serving."
Of course, that's assuming Inarizaki can recruit some reliable Middle Blockers.
Kito sighed following him: "Middle Blockers are still so hard to come by.."
The most important thing for a Middle Blocker is height, something that cannot be achieved simply through technical training.
Moreover, the students joining Inarizaki in recent years haven't actually been very tall; even Tokura, the tallest in Inarizaki right now, isn't even 1.9m.
However, for a team like Inarizaki that relies on a strong offense, it is sufficient.
That first-year student from Rakusan has quite a good height, but his technique is somewhat unrefined. However, Rakusan's main strategy revolves around the Opposite, so the Middle Blocker's role is more about pinning the defense; even if his technique is a little lacking, it shouldn't be a major problem.
In the final second of the serve limit, Subaru Fukami raised his hand to toss the ball.
Actually, he knew very well that Coach Kurosu was just humoring him by letting him play as a Middle Blocker; after all, he didn't run fast, nor could he jump that high. Although his setting stability was still there, his receiving in intra-team matches was still far inferior to Masaru Haseda and the others.
Perhaps.. for the next three years, he will be the Server from beginning to end.
But it doesn't matter.
In that case, he would make his serve the absolute best, just like Kumagai had told him before..
He's going to get ten points!!
The moment the heavy thud exploded, Uehara Tsuyoshi's expression contorted.
The speed of this ball.. is absolutely insane!
As his vision captured the volleyball blurring into an afterimage, he lunged quickly toward his left.
In the current formation, Uehara Tsuyoshi was responsible for defending nearly two-thirds of the court for the first receive, while Iori Miwa was responsible for the other side.
Fukami Subaru's serve followed an almost straight path, combined with its high speed, it reached Rakusan's back row almost instantaneously.
Uehara Tsuyoshi lunged for the ball almost at the same time as his shout, but at that moment, he heard a double sound.
“I'll get it!” “I'll get it!!”
In the moment Uehara Tsuyoshi's peripheral vision swept over, he saw Iori Miwa looking at him with an equally terrified expression.
Two collisions rang out in succession; Uehara and Miwa collided with each other, after Uehara received the ball, it was kicked by Miwa.
Aoba Haruka's brain stalled for a second before she hurriedly scrambled to catch up, leaping over the heads of two of her teammates to send the ball toward the opposite side with a bump, even while her back was turned to the net.
After sending the ball out, he stumbled as he landed and immediately looked back behind him.
He couldn't quite control this position; in fact, there was a high possibility it would have gone straight out of bounds..
The whistle blew, Aoba Haruka fell to her knees.
Well, it really did go out of bounds.
Fukami blinked, hurriedly raising his hands in celebration: "Yes! We got a point!"
Masaru Haseda held both hands up to his face and shouted loudly, "Nice play, nice play! One more!"
Harukawa turned his head to check on his three teammates with concern: "Are you guys okay?"
Uehara Tsuyoshi scrambled up. "I'm fine, I'm fine."
Iori Miwa, pinned underneath Uehara Tsuyoshi, struggled to raise his hands. "I.. I'm fine too."
Uehara Tsuyoshi patted his pants and responded earnestly, "It's fine, I'll definitely receive the next one!"
Compared to something like Dual Wielding, buzzer beaters, or super powerful spikes, this was just a serve with slightly better accuracy and speed, yet it somehow felt exceptionally gentle.
Uehara wiped away non-existent tears.
Was that really a human's receive!