His approach was fast; he took three quick steps to the baseline, lowered his center of gravity to gain momentum for his jump, used the momentum from his body to whip the ball away immediately after a brief arm swing.
A heavy thud exploded in Nishinoya's ears, in the next instant, the volleyball was already smashing toward the corner of Position 1 on the side.
The placement was incredibly tricky, the control of the landing point was extremely precise; without a doubt, it was a line shot.
Hayami winced at the sight.
He hated this kind of ball the most..
Nishinoya had no choice; since he and Tanaka were guarding half the court, he was positioned near Position 6, so his only option for this ball was to go for a diving receive.
Watching the ball fly steadily upward, the Shiratori in the stands praised, "Nice play."
Bokuto nodded. "That was a beautiful receive."
As someone who had played many matches against Karasuno, he knew better than anyone how difficult their Libero was to deal with. When he was attacking himself, he would intentionally avoid him most of the time.
Shiratori curled the corner of his mouth. "No, I mean Inarizaki's serves are good."
Bokuto didn't react in time: "Huh?"
Shiratori remained silent, but the two heavy thuds that rang out in the next second explained everything.
Enoshita's spike was blocked back by Suna and Miya Osamu, Inarizaki scored on the block.
Coach Kurosu smiled on the sidelines and nodded toward Kumagai.
At this stage, one of Karasuno's most troublesome aspects is their strong defense, the other is their multi-faceted simultaneous offense.
Both the former and the latter are tactics that can only be completed by relying on the Libero, Nishinoya.
It forces Nishinoya into a diving receive to handle the first receive, while simultaneously ensuring the opponent has enough time to participate in the subsequent counterattack, also preventing the opponent from taking over the responsibility of the second ball.
What is the best solution to solve the problem?
Of course, it is to eliminate the source of the potential problem.
Unai, in the Karasuno stands, frowned. "Karasuno is in a very passive position."
The initiative of this play style essentially still lies in Inarizaki's hands; if they are determined to press Karasuno during this rotation, Karasuno actually has no good way to respond.
Unless the counterattack can truly produce results, everything will be in vain.
But right now, Inarizaki's front row blockers consist of the Miya Twins and Suna, making for a blocking strength so intense that even a top-tier Ace would have to seriously consider whether they have the ability to face them head-on, let alone the fact that Karasuno's Ace is currently in the back row.
The Quick Attack is being shut down and can't be used, Enoshita's offensive capabilities are still limited..
If it were me, I'd have Kageyama shake up those Inarizaki guys.
Hoshiumi sat in the stands with his arms crossed over his chest, speaking with a calm expression.
In terms of offensive ability, Kageyama is stronger than Miya Atsumu, can be used as a primary spiker; Inarizaki is well aware of this.
So.. why not do the exact opposite?
Glancing at the members of Karasuno who were communicating through hand signals, Hirugami speculated in a low voice, "Karasuno has probably already planned for that."
Hoshiumi perked up and looked seriously at the court.
At this moment, Kumagai was already prepared to serve the second ball.
Having learned from the previous experience of the first ball being a line shot, Nishinoya's positioning this time was even further out, widening the space between him and Tanaka to make it harder for Kumagai to find a spot to target him with a heavy spike.
But Kumagai did not panic; instead, after a quick glance at Nishinoya and Tanaka's positioning, he decisively raised his hand to toss the ball.
This time, his target was the exact space between Nishinoya and Tanaka.
In Karasuno's past match footage, it is perfectly clear that their receiving strategy prioritizes the Libero.
There is no doubt that balls landing in the center must be handled by the Libero.
Watching the trajectory of the ball, Nishinoya cursed inwardly.
Is Inarizaki's Number 3..'s ball control a bit too ridiculous? And his observational skills are also somewhat outrageous.
As he pushed off the ground to dive, he saw Tsukishima in the front row making a hand gesture behind him.
After a heavy thud, the ball flew high into the air, landing near the net on Karasuno's side of the court.
Bokuto didn't react in time. "Was that an error?"
Whether it was a play from Position 1 and 2 or a setter jumping from the back row, this ball shouldn't have landed near the net in the center, right?
It might have looked like an error, but the one who performed the First Receive was that terrifying man, Nishinoya Yu..
The next second, the moment Nishinoya made the receive, Kageyama, who had already retreated outside the court, rushed to the net along a short diagonal route, lowering his center of gravity as if preparing to jump.
The ball flew to a high point at Position 3, appearing as if it would continue falling toward Position 2, right where Kageyama was prepared to spike.
But Tsukishima, who had just stepped back two steps, also stepped forward at this moment, preparing to spike the ball directly in front of him.
Seeing Tsukishima's movement, Kageyama clearly froze for a moment.
Wait, that's not what was said just now.
Suna frowned, unable to figure out what Karasuno was planning for the time being.
If he were Karasuno's playmaker, he might consider giving Kageyama a chance to set a second ball, whether it was a fake spike for a set or something else, but right now, it seemed like Karasuno's Middle Blocker was preparing to spike directly?
In the moment he hesitated, Tsukishima, who had already jumped, used his long arms to reach out and touch the ball directly.
But he didn't spike. At the moment Tsukishima's body hung in the air at its peak, he shifted slightly, the movement he had prepared for a spike transformed at that very instant.
With his back to Kageyama, he touched the ball with one hand and redirected it to Enoshita Chikara, who had somehow already spread out toward Position 4.
By the time Miya Atsumu realized something was wrong and tried to chase after it, it was already too late. Enoshita Chikara seized the opportunity of the spike hitting the top of the net to execute a perfect combination with Tsukishima, sending a line shot into the middle of the Inarizaki court, landing toward the side corner.
The whistle blew, Enoshita Chikara scored with a spike. Kumagai, positioned in the center of the back row to defend the middle, couldn't save the ball even with a dive.
Kageyama landed on the ground, his head full of question marks: "Huh?"
Chapter 506: The 506th Fox
Kageyama watched Tsukishima and Enoshita Chikara high-fiving with a blank expression, completely unaware of what his good teammates had done behind his back.
Before this play, his instructions were to perform a fake spike to set up a real set, allowing Tsukishima to spike a Quick Attack at Position 3.
When Tsukishima jumped early, he thought he was going to try out Inarizaki's Quick Attack on a whim.
He was already prepared to execute a Quick Attack. Although it would be somewhat difficult while in a fake spike stance, it wasn't entirely impossible, he had confidence in himself.
But..
What the hell is going on now?!
Hinata, who looked equally shocked, slowly felt the heavy weight lifting from his heart after seeing that Kageyama was also completely at a loss.
Well, he wasn't the only one who had been fooled; even his own teammates over at Karasuno weren't clear about what had happened, which was enough to show that the coordination over there was just too tricky.
Fine, in any case, that defense just now had nothing to do with him!
Hinata turned his head toward Kumagai in the back row: "Akuma—"
Before Hinata could say another word, Kumagai directly interrupted him, "Heisuke—"
Feeling as if a massive pot had inexplicably been dropped on him, Rishia Heisuke raised his hands and feet in surrender. "It was me, it was me! I just didn't react in time!"
Coach Omimi, standing by the sidelines, raised his hand and covered his face.
Rishia is good in every way, the only problem is that he is sometimes a bit too easy to pick on.. though it wouldn't be wrong to say that he, in a way, actually enjoys it.
Rishia admitted it quite readily, he wasn't worried at all that this blame would actually end up hurting him.
Because.. ultimately, this fault belongs to the Miya Twins and Suna-senpai. The front row's block didn't follow up at all; no matter how hard they worked in the back row, there was nothing they could do.
Even a spiker with poor technical skills can produce a terrifying effect when spiking into the net, so failing to keep up with a line shot is understandable. Moreover, Kumagai had just gone to receive it, but since the ball landed near the Three-meter Line, it should have been handled by Miya Atsumu, who was positioned further forward; after all, even if Miya Atsumu had touched the ball, Kumagai would have been there to complete the subsequent second ball.
Listening to the three Second Years behind him passing the buck to one another, Miya Atsumu felt a strange, inexplicable pain in his back.
He always felt like Hinata and the other two were subtly stabbing the three front row players in the back, especially him.
In the end, it was all Karasuno's fault; what on earth were they just doing?
And that blonde glasses bastard from Karasuno.. since when could he pull off a fake spike into a real set?
Miya Atsumu felt that Tsukishima must have had some kind of breakthrough during their practice match, because whether it was blocking or setting and spiking, he had become much more proactive, bearing absolutely no resemblance to that listless guy.
Suna didn't turn around or say anything, because if they spoke, the blame would inevitably be shifted onto them.
Kumagai and Tokura switched positions again, as Unabara Uta returned to the court, she gave Rishia a thumbs up.
Rishia gave a thumbs-up back behind her, ensuring she wasn't seen by the opponent even as Miya Atsumu's sharp gaze swept over.
Seeing the juniors' little movements, Akagi felt incredibly gratified yet a bit regretful: "It would have been great if Aran were here."
He felt that at this moment, there should be a super sharp remark to properly criticize the mistakes of those three Third Year students.
Kita Shinsuke smiled and replied softly, "He can come the day after tomorrow."
Recently, the Tachibana Red Falcons have been undergoing massive adjustments during the winter transfer window. Although the new coach had already completed the handover with Coach Blanco and had been leading the team for over six months, there have still been player changes, Aran has been incredibly busy lately.
Even so, he shouldn't be so busy that he can't even find time to take a leave of absence to come watch a match. What's more important is that Tachibana Red Falcons have recently scheduled practice matches against strong Italian teams, they are currently in closed training. Aran will likely have to take time off to come over on the day of the Finals.
But Kita Shinsuke felt that Aran really did need to take some time off to get some fresh air; whenever Aran sent him messages lately, there was a sense of despair in them.
The service right has once again passed to Kageyama.
Everyone could see the level of his Power Serve, after adjusting his form in the previous round and studying Inarizaki, Kageyama's serve strength would only continue to increase.
Hinata was originally prepared to stand in his previous position to join Rishia Unabara in a three-person receive.
But just as Kageyama was walking toward the service line with the volleyball, Rishia Heisuke made a gesture toward him.
Seeing that gesture, Hinata, who understood instantly, wrinkled his nose.
After casting an unwilling glance at Kageyama on the opposite side, Hinata silently moved forward to adjust his positioning.
Seeing this scene, Komori in the stands immediately let out a gasp of surprise: "Huh? Is Inarizaki planning to use a dual middle blocker setup to handle Kageyama's serve?"
Sakusa's voice drifted over: "That's also a valid way to interpret it."
Komori froze for a moment, after a brief moment of thought, he reacted in the same way: "Ah, that's true."
Inamoto, sitting in the front row, turned around in shock.