Coach Kurosu expressed great satisfaction: "They get along so well."
Look, this is the kind of social dynamic a strong school should have, unlike Miya Atsumu, who gets disliked wherever he goes.
Having caught the hidden meaning in Coach Kurosu's words, Miya Atsumu turned his head and clicked his tongue softly, further strengthening his resolve to crush Star First.
The pre-match warm-up for this match didn't take much time; after all, they were already on the third day, so it was more about loosening up the joints rather than adjusting their touch.
After the starting lineups for both sides were submitted, everyone took their positions on the court to undergo inspection by the Head Referee.
Hinata glanced at Suna standing beside him, silently moving his hands from his chest to his waist, mirroring Suna's posture.
Suna glanced at him, then inconspicuously lowered his hands, watching with interest as Hinata also lowered his.
He looked up, glanced at Miya Atsumu, reached out to give Hinata a beckoning motion, making a blocking gesture toward him.
Hinata nodded in understanding and gave him an OK sign.
In this match, the toss went to Star First.
Hirugami, standing by the sidelines, rubbed his chin. "As expected, it's a Middle Blocker starting at Position 4."
Hoshiumi nodded, analyzing carefully, "Relatively speaking, this is probably Star First's strongest rotation at this stage. It ensures the Libero can effectively control Inarizaki's entire peak period, and.. Irie's serve is still very intimidating."
There are not many teams in the high school stage that excel at and are proficient in defense, most of the members of Karasuno have studied them closely, including Star First, of course.
Hirugami commented, "Arashiyama is still very difficult to deal with."
Star First's captain is a Wing Spiker, but his blocking level is quite high. Combined with the blocking and defense of Middle Blocker Sasaki and a high-level Libero, they can limit the majority of Spikers.
However, after Hayami was injured and left, Star First's style of play ran into problems. After all, even now, Hayami is only a second year, the successor Star First chose for her is still in their third year of junior high.
Karasuno's match was in the third rotation, so Kageyama and the others also had time to watch Inarizaki's match.
Standing by the sidelines, Kageyama gently breathed into his palms.
Without a match to warm them up, Karasuno's somewhat thin sports uniforms were still not warm enough, especially since they had just come in from the outside and felt a bit chilled.
Yamaguchi walked to his side and said to him, "I watched Star First's match yesterday; their playstyle feels similar to ours."
Kageyama turned his head to look at him, feeling a bit surprised to see him alone. "Where is Tsukishima?"
Yamaguchi waved his hand, looking a bit embarrassed. "He said he hasn't fully woken up yet and is over by the stands."
By the way, Kageyama, have you been keeping an eye on Star First's setter?
Kageyama shook his head. "No, Star First isn't on our schedule."
Based on Inarizaki's current state, he doesn't think Inarizaki will lose. Even if they are making preparations, their target should be Inarizaki.
Yamaguchi smiled and took the initiative to strike up a conversation with Kageyama: "I passed by the court yesterday and caught a glimpse of their match. Their setter's serve is quite interesting, it's that.. Dual Wield you mentioned before."
If I remember correctly, Star First's playstyle leans towards the 'Trap' type. Their Libero from the last tournament was an expert in that area, making them quite difficult to play against.
Shiratorizawa rested his chin in his hands, relaying his experience to the people around him.
While he was still at Fukuda General, they had faced Star First twice, one of which was at last year's National Sports Festival.
Everyone at Star First is skilled at receiving, their Wing Spiker is so good he could play Libero for any other school.
So even though Hayami had to leave due to injury, they still struggled against the opponent's desperate final counterattack, but fortunately, they ultimately won.
However, that match took a heavy toll on Kuroo's and Shimizu's physical stamina, which also had a bit of an impact when they played against Inarizaki later.
However.. the main reason they lost to Inarizaki was that they were simply outclassed.
Oori Ren declared decisively, "If their offense isn't considered strong, they won't pose much of a threat to Inarizaki."
They would not fear the defense of any team, because no matter what kind of human wall was in place, it could not stop their spikers' offense.
To defeat Inarizaki, one must possess a scoring ability sufficient to rival them, their defense absolutely cannot be too poor.
Sitting on the steps, Shiratori smiled with crescent-shaped eyes: "I was thinking the same thing."
The match on the court had already begun, with Star First Middle Blocker Irie serving.
Nishizawa took his position near the center of the court, forming a double middle-receiver formation with Ginjima, while Hinata stood further forward on the other side, not participating in the first receive.
In Inarizaki's lineup, as long as the opponent isn't a super-strong server like Miya Atsumu, they don't need to use three people to receive a serve.
Irie's serve is a very standard Power Serve, but the overall intensity is insufficient.
Teams before the Round of 16 were decent, but they were somewhat lacking when facing Inarizaki.
Irie knew this very well himself, so he didn't expect to score a point directly from the serve from the start, opting instead for a tactical play.
His serve aimed for the top of the net between Miya Atsumu and Miya Osamu on the Inarizaki side, hitting the thick mesh with extreme precision before rolling over the net and dropping close to the floor in Inarizaki's court.
The Miya Twins were extremely calm. Miya Atsumu stepped back one step; even though he was relatively close to the ball, he made no move to reach for it.
Miya Osamu lowered his center of gravity and rushed toward the ball, using his hands to receive it.
Miya Osamu sent the toss high, aiming for the space between Position 3 and Position 4, at that same moment, Miya Atsumu was already charging toward the ball, while Suna had also adjusted his position behind Miya Osamu, preparing for a Back Quick Attack at Position 3.
Sasaki quietly watched Inarizaki's rotation, his mind rapidly conducting an analysis.
First of all, the opponent is Inarizaki, so you can basically disregard all standard scenarios.
In this current situation, the most likely scenario is Miya Atsumu's second attack, or.. Hinata jumping from the back row to spike the ball.
Sasaki quickly moved over to Arashiyama and Izumi Nozomi, the three of them preparing to execute a perfect three-man Block.
As for the timing of the jump, there was no need for further hesitation. Miya Osamu's toss was a quick one, this type of set didn't allow for much adjustment of the ball's height, which meant.. they only needed to jump as the ball dropped near a standard spiking point.
As Miya Atsumu slightly tilted his head to make eye contact with the players on the opposite side, he saw that they had already lowered their centers of gravity, he made an instant decision.
Miya Atsumu, who had originally prepared for a second attack, decisively abandoned it, arching his entire body backward to set the ball behind him.
But it wasn't Suna, who had jumped behind him to prepare for a Back Quick, but rather.. Miya Osamu, who had just finished the first receive and was now jumping near Position 2.
Miya Osamu put all his strength into the spike, with the net completely open, his spike slammed into Star First's court at maximum speed in a straight line.
In this current rotation, Hayami is not on the court, Hatta failed to make the correct decision during the back row defense, allowing Miya Osamu to score this point.
In an instant, the applause erupted like thunder.
That was amazing, Miya Osamu!
First point! Beautiful!!
Miya Osamu landed with a calm expression, simply turning to give Miya Atsumu a silent high-five.
Across the net, Sasaki frowned, eyeing Miya Atsumu out of the corner of his eye.
Well, his prediction was likely correct, but Miya Atsumu's reaction speed was a bit too fast.
No.. is the most terrifying part actually Miya Osamu?
Even though Miya Atsumu hadn't said anything or given any instructions just now, Miya Osamu actually managed to coordinate with him perfectly.
He couldn't help but complain, "As expected of the Twins, it's almost like you have telepathy."
Hinata said seriously through the net, "I think so too."
Sasaki glanced at him, his impression of him changing slightly, from "a wild fox who tricks their juniors" to "a wild fox who is somewhat in sync with him."
Miya Atsumu served for Inarizaki, while Hinata was already positioned in the front row.
They still had to perform their serve receive; regardless of the fact that Suna's height had already reached 1.9m, he didn't need to raise his hands too high when targeting Hayami, whose height was not particularly impressive.
Suna maintained his usual stance, placing both hands in front of him.
Hinata also followed him, placing his hands in front of him in a similar hand shape.
Miya Atsumu, who was preparing to serve next, froze for a moment, a question mark practically appearing over his head.
What is Suna doing?! He's corrupting Hinata! Is that how you cover a serve?!
Miya Osamu glanced at the two of them sideways and silently raised his hands to make the same movement.
Hayami from the back row of Star First turned to ask Kuwabara beside her, "Is this some kind of trendy serve reception posture?"
Although it was a bit hard to understand, it was still quite cute, like they were making a heart shape.
Sasaki, who was in front, turned his head to look at him: "No, it's that they look down on your height."
Chapter 492: The Four Hundred and Ninety-Second Fox
Hayami looked at Hinata, who was staring at her with eyes full of fighting spirit, then looked at Sasaki, who was clearly being "biased," and decisively gave a fair judgment.
Inarizaki simply made the correct judgment.
Setting aside Hinata, who doesn't have enough height himself, for Suna and Miya Osamu at their height, they really couldn't raise their hands too high if they wanted to block his vision.
But it didn't matter; he couldn't see anything clearly during matches anyway, he had already grown accustomed to being targeted by serves.
Miya Atsumu bounced the volleyball in his hands, withdrawing his gaze from the scoreboard at the side of the court.
Inarizaki had taken the first point, so his target for the serve should now be to further widen the gap. Once Star First gets caught in a rhythm, they are difficult to shake off, so the correct approach is to widen the margin while possible to reduce the workload for the subsequent rotations.
If he wanted to score from a Serve, the best thing to do would be.. to completely avoid Hayami.
That's right, it wasn't that he was being cowardly; it was simply that playing against Star First required a different strategy than playing against Itachiyama.
Star First is equipped with a lineup of all-around strong receivers, meaning they have no absolute weakness in defense; even if Hayami can no longer play, the others can step up at any time.
Moreover, in a best-of-three match that was only in its third morning, Hayami's stamina wouldn't be exhausted.
Moreover, after experiencing something that most people have never gone through, Hayami's mental state certainly wouldn't be an issue; during the previous training camp, he had tried to target Hayami like this more than once, but with very little effect.
After adjusting his touch, Miya Atsumu raised his hand to toss the ball, hitting it precisely toward the corner of Position 5 in the backcourt of Star First.
Watching the volleyball fall, Hayami slightly raised her eyebrows.
Well, just as he expected, Miya Atsumu-senpai was planning to avoid him.
But it was no use; avoiding him was a clear strategy in itself, the more one tried to avoid him, the easier it became to exploit that very fact.
Hatta calmly lunged to the side with a push of his foot: "I've got it!"
Regardless of whose serve it was, Star First always maintained a standard three-person formation for the first receive.
Hatta's diving reaction was incredibly fast; after confirming the ball's landing area, he precisely sent the ball toward the front row.
As the ball landed, Miya Atsumu slightly raised an eyebrow.