Hakuma Mebuki shrugged her shoulders, not daring to say a word.
Shoyo blinked, turned to look at his own cheering squad, raised his hand to wave to everyone, signaling for them to look at him.
This was a carefully "planned" one-on-one Block; shouldn't he be praised at a time like this!
Miya Atsumu shouted with a laugh, "Nice one, Shoyo!"
Unai also shouted along, "Beautiful block! The all-around Ace!"
So cool, Shoyo!
Shoyo was absolutely cool today! He set the whole stadium on fire!
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Shoyo stood with his hands on his hips, chest out, a proud smile on his face.
Amidst the cheers and applause of the entire crowd, he gave two smug little huffs.
—He is truly incredible!
Chapter 451: The 451th Fox
Watching Hoshiumi and Hakuma glare at each other, Hirugami stepped in from the sidelines to mediate: "Alright, alright, keep a level head. Don't let Inarizaki lead you by the nose."
He looked at Hakuma Mebuki: "Mebuki, stay calm. Don't try to use playstyles on the court that you haven't mastered through training."
Karasuno and Inarizaki are different; in an important match like this, Karasuno does not need such a variable.
Hakuma nodded. "Yes."
Hoshiumi turned his head to glare at Shoyo, who was full of excitement and pride, then stomped his shoe hard against the ground.
He said to Hakuma, "Just play the way you normally do. Your offensive style.. trying to be clever only ends up falling straight into Inarizaki's trap."
Since this level of offensive intensity cannot break through Inarizaki's defense, they must adopt a more simple and direct approach, reaching the absolute limit in either power or height.
Iizuna crossed his arms over his chest and commented calmly, "Inarizaki's block against Hakuma only aims for a touch. Although it's a typical soft-overcoming-hard style of play, in the end, they can't completely neutralize the power of the spike; they rely more on the back row Libero to handle it."
That means, if Hakuma could just invest a bit more effort into his height and power, he might actually have a chance to break through Inarizaki's defense head-on.
Amatori rubbed his chin, thinking for a moment before speaking, "Ah, well.. but I think Inarizaki might be trying to force Karasuno into making that kind of decision."
“Pursuing more power means consuming more physical strength on the counterattack, which might affect Karasuno's block.”
Iizuna glanced at him, remained silent for a moment, then replied, "That is a possibility."
However.. it's unlikely to be for such a simple reason.
Sakusa suddenly said, "It's to prepare for a long battle, isn't it?"
Komori agreed with this, saying, "Indeed."
He explained simply, "Karasuno already exerted a lot of energy during their match against us yesterday, Hakuma's condition isn't very good today either. If Inarizaki is determined to play a war of attrition, they might be able to drain Karasuno's overall condition in just two sets."
Amatori, who hadn't quite processed it yet, asked instinctively, "Two sets?"
Komori continued, "A player with normal stamina can only push themselves to the limit for three high-intensity sets. Someone with Hakuma's physique requires more energy just to get started, considering we're already at the end of a major tournament.. well."
He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone at Itachiyama already understood.
Two sets is a very critical turning point.
As the offensive core of Karasuno, although Hakuma's technical skills are average, he still carries nearly half of Karasuno's offensive load during times when Hoshiumi needs to coordinate defense.
If he leaves the court, it will surely be a massive blow to Karasuno. Coupled with the possibility that the substitutes might not be able to keep up.. it could very likely lead to a complete collapse in the subsequent sets of the match.
For Inarizaki, if they can wear Hakuma down over about two sets, even if they lose the first two sets, they could easily pull off a comeback from two sets down to win three, thanks to Inarizaki's terrifying bench depth.
Of course, given Inarizaki's current lead, they likely won't lose this set.
Amatori shrugged his shoulders. "They've done that before."
In the past, even Inarizaki, who weren't as strong as they are now, have done the same thing—defeating their opponents by exhausting one of their offensive and defensive cores.
Sakusa watched Shoyo on the court preparing to serve, he frowned slightly.
Coach Kurosu, standing on the sidelines, considered the consequences and decisively substituted in Fukami Subaru to serve at this critical juncture.
There is a significant chance they can win this set; they should solidify their advantage as soon as possible.
Hinata took his number from Fukami and returned to the side of the Coach's bench: "Get a good serve!"
Fukami's serve quality was extremely high; during the final stages of the tournament, a server in peak condition is terrifyingly lethal during critical points.
But Karasuno's Libero, Takahashi, also showed incredible resilience; instead of choosing to go for a diving save on this ball, he quickly adjusted his positioning, lowered his height, used his forearms to receive the ball.
After the heavy thud, the ball bounced high into the air, falling toward the Attack Line in front of the net.
Sorry! Cover!
Takahashi Ai was nearly knocked off her feet, using one hand to brace against the ground to prevent a complete fall.
Having already moved to the front row, Hoshiumi quickly created distance, adjusted his position, jumped to spike.
Tokura and Rishia from the opposing side had already closed in, but they hadn't quite matched Hoshiumi's hitting point.
Asahina's toss for this ball was incredibly high.
Hoshiumi's height is already over 1.7 meters, with his jumping ability being essentially on par with Hinata's, this height advantage translates directly into an advantage in hitting point.
In regular training, the highest contact point Tokura has encountered was from Miya Osamu, but the timing required to block Miya Osamu and to block a small player like this is completely different.
Because of this discrepancy, his jump was slightly early, giving Hoshiumi the opportunity to use the block.
Thud!
A collision rang out, the ball went straight out of bounds.
The whistle blew, Karasuno scored.
Hoshiumi looked at Hinata, who had swapped positions with Fukami Subaru on the sidelines, raised a finger at him: "First point."
Now the offense and defense have shifted!
He is not an easy spiker to handle like Hakuma; let's see him try to catch up with the score.
With both Hinata and Miya Osamu in the back row right now, this is the best opportunity for Karasuno to score consecutive points and take the lead.
Commentator Yamamoto shouted in excitement: "Hoshiumi immediately took on the responsibility of the attack after rotating to the front row, a beautiful score by tooling the block!"
[Can Karasuno seize this opportunity to catch up in one go!]
Amatori, who was also a heavy hitter, grimaced: "As expected, when facing this kind of rogue block, using a technical ball is more effective."
Disgusting! That's just too disgusting!
Watching Fukami walk off the court, Miya Atsumu spoke without mercy, "Subaru! What are you doing!"
Fukami apologized hurriedly, "My bad, my bad!"
He had been observing from the sidelines for a long time, the opposing Libero's condition was actually quite poor. He specifically chose them as a target for his offense to further exhaust their stamina.
Unexpectedly, the opponent anticipated the direction of his serve and managed to receive it steadily.
Kumagai patted him on the shoulder. "Keep at it next time."
Actually, he should be the one serving at a time like this, but in a best-of-five Finals, he must be ready to substitute for Miya Atsumu at any moment, the Coach will not substitute him easily.
Bessho Chigen's service turn resulted in a point under Hoshiumi's fierce offense, allowing Karasuno to score consecutive points.
But the next ball was skillfully returned by Miya Atsumu's Second Attack, denying Karasuno any further opportunity to narrow the score.
As the service right passed to Rishia, Miya Osamu also returned to Position 4 in the front row.
Tokura rubbed his hands together to warm his palms.
Don't panic, just think about how you usually play against Hinata.. there isn't much difference.
Rishia's serve was even more powerful than Fukami's, sending Norikura Isao crashing to the floor. After a moment of deliberation, Asahina coordinated Hoshiumi and Hakuma to execute a back-row staggered attack.
Tokura, who had locked onto Hakuma's position, gave a perfect response; he lunged forward alongside Miya Osamu to touch the ball and tip it high, providing enough space for the Libero in the back row to handle it.
Beautiful!!
The whistle blew, Miya Osamu scored with a line shot spike.
The score was brought back by Inarizaki once again, the match fell into a stalemate again.
Yamamoto's commentary: [The match has entered a Time-out at 16 points. As the players take a brief rest, let's summarize the current situation.]
Inarizaki's intentions are now very clear. Whether it's targeting Hoshiumi's serve during the opening or using disruptive play to interfere with Hakuma later on, the goal is essentially to wear down the opponent's condition.
Kito analyzed: "A more important point is that Suna and Tokura are able to make frequent touches."
Turning balls that would normally be impossible to receive into manageable balls through technical skill—this is a very common way of simplifying complex plays.
Oikawa Tooru said, "But choosing this style of play actually leaves Inarizaki with significant points of collapse."
Kito glanced at him, Yamamoto on the far left also looked toward him.
Yamamoto let out a sound and asked, "Are you saying that Inarizaki's block might fail to maintain its balance, causing their defense to weaken?"
However, since the Middle Blocker only plays half the court, even with his condition declining, Suna would certainly be able to last longer than the Wing Spiker, despite his own poor physical stamina.
Oikawa Tooru shook his head: "No, actually, the one more likely to run into trouble is Unabara Uta."
Kito dutifully acted as a foil for Oikawa Tooru, who was eager to show off at the moment, while simultaneously leading into the important commentary: 【Unabara Uta?】
Oikawa Tooru had a very serious expression, his tone carrying obvious confidence: 【Inarizaki's block actually only ensured a basic touch; although it can reduce some of the power, it is very limited.】
The greatest function of this kind of block is to change the ball's trajectory, making a ball that was originally headed for the ground bounce higher, providing space for the Libero in the back row to handle it, the Libero is the crucial point for managing the ball's power and spin.
Although his presence isn't high, Unabara Uta is indeed the one supporting the team's rotation.
Kito nodded and continued, "So, if Unabara Uta's physical strength collapses first, Inarizaki will actually end up at a disadvantage because of this playstyle."
A smile appeared on the face of the Iizuna representative in the stands: "That is indeed true.."
Amatori shrugged. "But Unabara's current strength and physical condition are likely unknowns to players other than us, right?"
Unabara Uta started playing as a starter this year, but during the Interhigh, he didn't have the chance to play every game due to an injury.
But Inarizaki's testing was conducted at their place, so they have first-hand data, though they have never released it to the public.
If I had to say.. Unabara Uta's physical condition is only mid-tier; in truth, it isn't enough to support a playstyle like Inarizaki's.