After many adjustments and explorations, Goshiki Tsutomu's offensive style has broken away from Ushijima's style, currently, it might lean more towards Bokuto's.
Of course, this was also an attacking pattern he was most familiar with.
As a Middle Blocker, he only plays half the court, so his condition is currently quite good.
No problem, he will keep Goshiki under control; the rest.. can be left to his senior to handle.
Touch!
Nice!
Nishinoya Yu's voice rang out immediately after, he took two steps, positioning himself precisely under the ball using the simplest movement path.
With no wasted movement, he reached out, using his forearms to pass the ball toward the Attack Line.
Coach Himegomiya, standing on the sidelines, praised, "Clean and efficient movement."
Since her lover had started interacting with Nishinoya Yu through Hinata's introduction, she had already watched his past match footage with him. To be honest, in terms of fundamentals, he was much worse back then than he is now.
It's not that Nishinoya Yu's receiving movement was bad, but rather that his form often leaned more towards street volleyball rather than formal volleyball matches.
But as time went on, she also discovered that the opponent's habits were being corrected bit by bit, which was completely different from when they were in First Year High School.
—It's because she has a good coach.
Sanjo shrugged. "I've asked, Karasuno and Nekoma still interact quite frequently."
Coach Himegomiya nodded. "Indeed, this child's style definitely shows the influence of Nekoma."
With an absolute sense of responsibility and confidence born of skill, stable first receives, a wide defensive coverage, excellent dynamic vision and reaction speed, he is, without a doubt, a quite remarkable Libero prospect.
Watching Tsukishima score a point with a Block for Karasuno, bringing the score to 15-16 in favor of Karasuno against Shiratorizawa, Coach Sanjo said, "Actually, with this kind of First Receive and Setter in place, it's very difficult for Karasuno to lose; they are just relatively slow to warm up."
Understanding the meaning behind his words, Coach Himegomiya's lips twitched.
Indeed, it's "hard" to lose.
Just as Itachiyama, despite being able to win against Nekoma, hates playing against them because they always somehow get dragged into a third set, which has a massive negative impact on their players' physical condition and mental health.
Kageyama, who was looking toward the number 4 Libero to communicate, made Coach Himegomiya shake her head slightly. "But.. as expected, he is different from Nekoma."
Unlike Nekoma's setter, Kageyama's offense is very aggressive, Karasuno as a whole has developed some subtle chemical reactions because of this. Although they lack a high-speed spiker who can support the team's quick attacks, Kageyama's powerful ability to coordinate multi-point attacks allows him to fully control the situation.
However.. all of this was built upon the foundation of stable blocks, touches, first receives.
Watching the screen, Hinata gasped, "That number 8 Middle Blocker's back flight was beautiful, he can do a dump."
This is a technique that Hinata hasn't mastered very well. This kind of dump is different from a standard dump where the ball is simply tipped under the net; instead, it uses a method similar to a Jump Float Serve, using the heel of the palm to deliver a short, sharp burst of power.
Because the movement wasn't significantly different from a standard dump, if the setter provided a sufficiently long ball, the back row defenders would be highly likely to be deceived by the motion and step forward, thereby missing the opportunity to receive the ball.
Miya Atsumu nodded. "This person is an expert at the Jump Float Serve."
Hinata's expression turned serious. "It's definitely very noteworthy."
In fact, even now, he still couldn't quite handle those Jump Float Serves with such extreme angles of change; he had absolutely no way to smoothly judge where they would land.
However, Unabara Uta has made some progress in this regard; after being trained relentlessly by Kumagai and Miya Atsumu for over half a year, his receiving movement has reached a fairly mature level.
Seeing Kageyama walk toward the service area, Hinata's expression turned serious. "Here it comes, a super powerful Kill Serve."
Miya Atsumu glanced sideways at Hinata. "Why call it a killer serve? Just because he has a lot of strength?"
Hinata had a serious expression and replied earnestly, "Yeah."
Miya Atsumu fell silent.
As his gaze swept across the scoreboard at the side of the court, showing that Karasuno had already reached set point, Kageyama lowered his head to look at the volleyball in his hands.
Winning this point would tie the score, Goshiki's condition had declined significantly; they had a great chance of winning in the final set.
His condition today is very good.
So.. he will definitely deliver a great serve.
Under Akakura's gaze, Kageyama, after adjusting his touch, tossed the ball without hesitation and then stepped forward with a large stride following the ball.
Just like every serve before, it was still heavy, still fast enough.
But.. Akakura could no longer keep up.
BANG!!
The ball bounced high and landed out of bounds, the whistle blew, signaling a score for Karasuno.
Cheers erupted in his ears.
At the net, Goshiki Tsutomu tilted his head slightly toward Kageyama over there; he frowned, biting his lower lip.
“You're feeling restless, aren't you?”
Miya Atsumu swallowed the egg in his mouth, his lips curling into a slight smirk as he stared at the 2:2 score on the screen.
“Even though they took the first two sets, they've allowed the opponent to exploit their declining form to pull ahead slightly, they can't even break through the opponent's tight defense.."
His elbows rested on his thighs as he chuckled, "With the blocks also using touches to suppress you, as the Ace, the pressure must be immense."
From Goshiki Tsutomu's perspective, Hinata felt like he was suffocating: "So scary.."
Although he felt Kageyama's heart was also black.. he just couldn't imagine him coming up with such a terrifying tactical layout.
The tall Middle Blocker lowered his eyes slightly and spoke softly.
We can close the net now.
The opponent's condition had already begun to weaken, the Libero's defense was visibly unable to keep up with Kageyama's Serve.
This also meant.. he could attempt something with a higher level of risk.
Kageyama turned his head to look at Nishinoya Yu: "Then I'll leave it to you, Senpai."
Nishinoya patted his chest: "Leave it to me!"
Tsukishima put down his water bottle and followed the others toward the court.
Next, he will not limit himself to just suppressing through touches.
—He is going to start scoring.
Coach Himegomiya rubbed his arms by the sidelines. "Why does this disgusting playstyle feel so familiar?"
Block touches to suppress, the Libero spreading out the defensive coverage, the Setter coordinating multi-point attacks to disrupt the block, the Spiker targeting specific spikes to wear down the opponent's condition.. Aside from Karasuno's poor execution of wide attacks, everything seems somewhat familiar.
Coach Sanjo smiled. "Like Heart Fox bullying Karasuno's Little Giant?"
Coach Himegomiya summarized accurately: "Like a combination of the dark sides of Heart Fox and Black-hearted Cat."
Although Karasuno is also very good at playing multi-point attacks, they cannot produce the same overwhelming offensive effect as Inarizaki; instead, most of Karasuno's offense consists of tactical plays, which makes their style quite similar to the counter-attacking style of teams like Nekoma.
She couldn't help but complain, "It's not that they don't learn at all.."
Coach Sanjo laughed. "But these things aren't absolute requirements for a player's physical condition; they are the kind of things that are easy to learn and yield great results."
Moreover, Ushijima's condition has been almost entirely depleted during these past two days of matches. As the match has progressed to this stage.. naturally, the side in better condition holds the advantage.
Coach Sanjo's expression was quite relaxed: "Karasuno should thank Date Tech."
Although most students at Central Physical Education University enter through recommendation, there are plenty of spots available in Beach Volleyball, which gives him enough room to maneuver.
But.. compared to a player who had been unknown within the prefecture during their three years of high school, a student who had made it to the nationals was naturally more valuable, which also made it easier for him to request resources from the school later on.
As for whether he would be snatched away by the hard-hitting side..
Komori, who is in the same year as Nishinoya, has already been admitted through recommendation, so he believes that Raphael and the others won't be competing with him for people.
Karasuno, having fully entered their rhythm, a somewhat flagging Shiratorizawa quickly pulled apart in the final set; Karasuno, having won the toss to serve first, took a two-point lead thanks to Kageyama's serve.
Meanwhile, Tsukishima Kei, who was playing even more aggressively than before, also scored consecutive points through his blocks.
With Tanaka's spike scoring, Karasuno reached set point.
Even though Yura is not Shirabu, Goshiki Tsutomu is not Ushijima Wakatoshi, for a Setter who is already in a state of extreme exhaustion, that almost instinctive choice of a set would be the only possibility at this moment.
Yura will definitely set the ball to the Ace.
The moment the ball left Yura's hands, Tsukishima and Enoshita had already jumped together.
The two of them jumped in front of each other, pressing down from above.
The setter's set wasn't particularly high, Goshiki could no longer jump, so many options could be ruled out.
Tsukishima was very certain that he had completely memorized Goshiki's spiking habits.
In a situation where the block is on his left side near the sideline.. Goshiki will definitely, definitely choose his most proficient line spike.
In the moment he locked eyes with Goshiki Tsutomu, Tsukishima Kei was momentarily dazed.
.. No.
Bang!
Bang!!
Two consecutive thuds rang out as the ball fell at an extremely high speed, but it headed straight toward the Shiratorizawa side of the court.
Tsukishima Kei, who had extended a single hand to block the gap between him and Enoshita Chikara, fell toward the ground, his vision capturing Goshiki Tsutomu's expression of surprise and frustration.
The more likely the option, the more likely it is a trap; he knew that all too well.
The long whistle blew, the scoreboard at the side of the court froze at Shiratorizawa 12:15 Karasuno.
Karasuno wins 3:2.
Tsukishima, having secured the final point, glanced at his hand, let out a soft breath, then clenched his fist tightly: "Yes!"
The heavy weight in his heart finally lifted. Hinata gripped his bento box tightly. "Finally.. I have the chance to defeat the King on a formal court!"
Miya Atsumu curled his lip. "Not necessarily. They might get eliminated in the first round."
Hinata jerked his head around, his already uncontrollable emotions surging forth completely: "Atsumu-ge, please don't discourage me at a time like this!"
I.. I—
Just as Hinata was about to burst into tears, the door to the Locker Room was flung open with a loud bang.
The usually kind Coach Omimi wore a fierce expression, just like the angry Coach Kurosu, glared at the two of them with a face full of rage.
Atsumu! Shoyo! You two are eating in the Locker Room again!!