And since Hayami himself was a former Libero, he had even less opportunity to watch the opponent's serve.
But soon, Miya Atsumu denied that guess himself: "No.."
A Ceiling Serve requires sufficient power and lower-body stability, something Hayami absolutely cannot do.
And.. Hayami's center of gravity didn't lower at all.
Could it be that Hayami can't even serve, so she chose the standing underhand serve that most beginners use?
—That's just too spineless.
Even Hinata used a standing serve when he first arrived at Inarizaki, let alone Hayami, who was trained in the national program.
Hayami stood with his left foot forward, positioned sideways behind the baseline, exhaling softly as he held the volleyball.
During his rehabilitation, he spent most of his time working hard to restore his abilities as a Libero; he hadn't practiced his Serve in a long time.
I don't know if I can still pull it off now, but.. there's probably a high chance it'll be fine.
After counting to five in her head to confirm that her condition was still good, Hayami decisively tossed the ball upward.
The opposing Libero, Kanzaki, had a solemn expression. If he remembered correctly, the serve Hayami had been practicing was..
A loud bang rang in everyone's ears. As the volleyball fell, it was struck by Hayami's arm, which swung in a large arc from back to front, sending the ball flying upward.
Hearing this sound, Hinata, with his back to Hayami, froze for a moment.
Wait, the sound of a low underhand Ceiling Serve shouldn't sound like this, right?
Compared to the heavy and solid sound in his memory, this sound was clearly much shorter.
As Hinata adjusted his position to avoid being targeted by the subsequent spike, Hayami's serve appeared at the same time as the shocked gazes of everyone on the opposite side.
It wasn't a high-arcing, heavy Ceiling Serve, nor was it a mediocre, ordinary underhand Serve.
What Hayami hit with that underhand serve.. was a Jump Float Serve.
Kanzaki cursed inwardly.
He remembered correctly, but the arc of a jump float serve is different from a standard serve. This kind of jump float serve.. he hadn't seen one in many years.
Where, where will this serve land?
Damn it, it drifted to the left again..
Kanzaki stared at the ball's position, but because the angle was higher than a standard Jump Float Serve, the movement made it impossible to make a proper read.
He steeled himself, preparing to step up and actively meet the ball.
But just at the moment his hand was about to touch the ball, the erratically wobbling volleyball suddenly veered slightly to the left and then plummeted toward the ground.
The whistle blew, Hayami scored with a serve.
Withdrawing his gaze from the people on the opposite side, Hayami looked up and spoke to Hinata, who was staring at him with a face full of shock.
“Even with an underhand serve, you can still do a jump float serve.”
Oohhhhh—
A Jump Float Serve!! That was incredible!
Hinata rushed toward Hayami with a cheer, raising his hand to give him a high five.
Watching the two of them cheering from the sidelines, Miya Atsumu was in no mood to dwell on who was getting closer to Hinata.
After his brain stopped thinking for ten seconds, he commented, "This is far too tricky."
Is this kind of serve hard to receive?
Actually, it's not hard to receive.
A Jump Float Serve isn't much different from other types of serves; if the server's own strength and control aren't at an elite level, its threat isn't actually that great.
The reason he could score so easily was because most high school players had never seen this kind of serve before; encountering it for the first time, they certainly wouldn't be able to handle it smoothly.
One could only say it was a trick play; if the opponent had been a highly capable Libero, they probably wouldn't have been able to score on the second ball.
But right now, Kanzaki is playing Libero, the other Spikers are all former Middle Blockers, so their defense is quite mediocre.
So.. Hayami's serve immediately secured the second point.
Kageyama, seeing this kind of serve for the first time, was also quite amazed.
Because he hadn't had many resources before, much of what he knew was merely theoretical, but experiencing it in reality now gave him a completely different feeling.
Perhaps because Hinata's side had increased the point gap further, putting enough pressure on the opposing team, they requested a time-out from the referee after a brief discussion.
They were playing quite a mess, they needed time to regroup.
Coach Unabara, standing by the sidelines, rubbed his chin. "So, it's still not enough.."
The lineup he arranged for the first round was primarily intended to test whether Aoba and Kanzaki could take on commanding roles to provide coordination for the entire team.
But as it turned out, they performed quite poorly, failing to even come up with a single reliable way to play.
However, he had not placed the setters responsible for coordinating each team's plays into the opposing lineup, so it was actually quite reasonable that these spikers couldn't figure out how to handle things on their own.
We could consider adding some tactical simulation classes later; we can't rely solely on the setter.
Thinking of this, Coach Unabara sighed again.
The setters over the last few years have indeed been a bountiful harvest, but after Kageyama, there haven't been any suitable talents, with Mingsha being the only one to show any talent.
Just thinking about this made his head ache.
During the time-out, Kageyama turned his head toward Hinata. "Hinata, among the players selected for the Junior National Team this time, are there any who can do a Ceiling Serve?"
Hearing this term, Hinata froze for a moment before realizing that Kageyama was talking about the Ceiling Serve.
He replied, "I don't think so. Most of those selected are planning to play volleyball long-term, so the people in the hard spike field probably wouldn't choose to practice this kind of serve, right?"
Atsumu-ge said this is quite hard on the wrist.
In beach volleyball, this kind of serve is very common because it is truly effective, but in indoor volleyball, this type of serve is often limited by the gym conditions and cannot achieve its best effect.
If it's really because of the physical conditions that an ACE can't be scored, then it would be better to practice something like a Jump Float Serve.
Kageyama nodded slightly. "Understood."
It's a bit of a shame.
Nishinoya-senpai probably hasn't seen this kind of serve yet. He had hoped to experience it for himself, so he could go back and exchange experiences with Nishinoya-senpai.
Seeing what Kageyama was thinking, Hinata tilted his head. "Don't worry, didn't Nishinoya-senpai go to Coach Sanjo's place?"
He gave Kageyama a thumbs-up. "Most of the players in all of Japan who are masters of the high serve were basically trained by Coach Sanjo."
"But speaking of that.." Hinata raised a hand to rub his chin.
During the opening, Kageyama, you seemed like you wanted to say something. Thinking about it now.. our current lineup is probably quite similar to yours at Karasuno.
A base formation capable of playing a 4-2, side blockers with good defensive skills, middle blockers with excellent offense and blocking.
Although they couldn't completely replicate the strength of Nishinoya-senpai's defense, the defensive lineup of the two excellent Liberos, Hanae and Suisui, could also mitigate the impact of Chikatani's weakness in defense to a certain extent.
Kageyama.. he isn't planning to try out some adjustments to Karasuno's subsequent tactics based on their current lineup, is he?
Meeting Hinata's gaze, Kageyama did not beat around the bush this time.
Because right now, nothing was more important than making his team stronger.
They won the Regional Qualifiers and finally stepped into the realm of the Nationals.
As their vision broadened further, he suddenly realized Karasuno's weakness.
This simply won't do, it certainly won't be enough.
The time-out ended, as they were walking back onto the court, Kageyama, who had finally organized his thoughts, spoke up: "I want to try a 4-2 rotation. You can do it, right?"
Hinata nodded: "Of course! Leave it to me!"
Playing against so many high-level opponents, just passing alone was no longer enough to satisfy him!
Also.. I have some questions about Inarizaki," Kageyama said after hesitating for two seconds, "about a match from a long time ago.
Hinata froze for a moment, then turned to look at Kageyama with a strange smirk on his face. "If you're going to say, 'The great Lord Hinata, please help me,' I'm not someone who just answers questions for anyone on a whim."
He stood with his hands on his hips, a mischievous smirk spreading across his face.
He knew why Miya Atsumu loved teasing Kageyama so much; that feeling was truly exhilarating!
While Kageyama's expression was contorted and he stammered for a long time, unable to speak, Hinata, suddenly realizing something was wrong, raised his hand to scratch his head.
Huh? That's not right. You could have just messaged me and asked me about these things before, couldn't you?
By the way.. it feels like you haven't contacted me in a very, very long time?
Kageyama frowned slightly. "It might have been because of a problem with my phone before; I don't have your contact information anymore."
Hinata didn't think anything was wrong, he simply said, "Then let's add each other back in a bit."
Kageyama nodded. "Okay."
For some reason, Hinata always felt as if someone was watching him from behind.
And the gaze was incredibly resentful.
Hinata shrugged his shoulders and decided to pretend he didn't notice.
It shouldn't be Atsumu-ge.
Yeah, definitely not Atsumu!
Chapter 476: The Four Hundred and Seventy-Sixth Fox
Hayami was already positioned at the baseline, preparing to serve the third ball.
After Kageyama and Hinata agreed to exchange contact information after the match, they didn't say much more, simply deciding to adjust to a 4-2 rotation.
But.. no one had notified the other teammates.
Having finished exchanging street volleyball insights with the others, Kanzaki was now brimming with fighting spirit, his hands held at his sides, his center of gravity lowered and centered.
Bring it on!!