What's this? Are we not playing a four-two?
Komori raised his hand and scratched his head, unable to figure out for a moment what Karasuno was planning to do.
Relatively speaking, Karasuno's strength lies in when Tsukishima is in the front row; Karasuno's quick attacks are quite outstanding, they can provide cover for the Ace, Tanaka, who is very skilled at attacking in a staggered formation.
But now Karasuno swapped the positions of Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, placing Tsukishima adjacent to Tanaka, which could be described as a complete abandonment of the Position 3 rotation playstyle.
Furthermore, Karasuno substituted out their other setter, Tokita, brought in their number 6; according to the roster, this player named Narita is a Middle Blocker.
Shiratori looked at the roster in his hands and speculated, "Strengthening the block even further.."
He wasn't quite sure how strong this Narita was, so he couldn't jump to any conclusions yet.
—I'll just watch and see first.
However.. there is no need to worry too much; we can just deal with each situation as it comes.
When it comes to adapting to an opponent's moves, Inarizaki are masters among masters.
Miya Atsumu pursed his lips.
For some reason, he always had an ominous feeling.
Hinata locked eyes with Kageyama, who was directly opposite him, his gaze steady and calm.
Bring it on! No matter what the opponent is planning, he won't be afraid!
Miya Atsumu held the ball in one hand and stepped back four steps, turning to face the Karasuno side, preparing to serve.
The sounds of cheering were incessant: "Give us a good serve!!"
As the whistle blew, Atsumu slowly raised his hand, his fist clenched to silence all the noise in the arena.
The Inarizaki cheering area fell silent, but the Karasuno cheering side, having long been prepared for this, did not stop their movements. Tanaka's cheering group increased their intensity, striking the drums with even heavier and more powerful beats, intending to stabilize their own rhythm.
Atsumu curled his lips into a smirk, spinning the ball on his fingertips in a good mood.
As the seven-second serve limit approached in his mind, he pressed his hand against the volleyball to stop its spin, then raised his hand and tossed the ball into the air.
The sound of his soles stepping on the floor was incredibly solid as Miya Atsumu leaped steadily from in front of the baseline, striking the ball with the heel of his palm and sending it toward the other side of the net.
Narita's voice rang out immediately after: "I've got it!"
He stepped forward to stand in front of Tanaka, taking over Nishinoya's responsibility to prevent Nishinoya from making the first receive.
Miya Atsumu couldn't help but let out a small click of his tongue.
He aimed this spike directly at Tanaka, originally intending to force Nishinoya to receive it.
This number 6.. his receiving of jump floats is quite skilled.
As someone who had been a regular substitute alongside Kinoshita, Narita spent more time training with Kinoshita than anyone else.
Although he wasn't good at the first receive, when it came to the Jump Float Serve.. he had long ago figured out exactly how to handle it.
Tsukishima, Kageyama, the Coach had collectively discussed substituting him in to use him as a Wing Spiker capable of handling Inarizaki's Jump Float Serve, in order to maximize Nishinoya's initiative and ensure Karasuno had more opportunities to conduct multi-faceted simultaneous attacks led by the Libero's setting.
“What a great first receive!” Nishinoya praised loudly.
He took a large stride forward, lightly leaping into the air behind the Three-meter Line, while the others simultaneously took their approach steps forward, looking exactly like they were in a Five-point Attack stance.
Suna increased his concentration, his gaze locked firmly on Nishinoya, who was preparing to set.
A Five-point Attack also meant that Karasuno had not left anyone back for a Counterattack; as long as they could time the block against the Spiker, their probability of scoring through a Block would increase significantly.
Under the cover of Yamaguchi in the center, Nishinoya Yu sent this ball to Kageyama in Position 2.
Watching Hinata and Suna rushing toward him from the opposite side, Kageyama made a feint as if preparing for a heavy spike.
Sensing his intention, the two players' blocks pressed down simultaneously, attempting to kill the ball directly.
But in that very instant, Kageyama suddenly smiled.
Hinata felt that something was wrong.
He pulled back his strength almost immediately and prepared his body to land, but it was already too late.
The overly aggressive push-up gave Kageyama more space for a higher spike, at the moment of contact, Kageyama pulled back his hand, lightly tapping the bottom half of the volleyball and sending it on a gentle tip into Inarizaki's court.
Rishia, in the back row, shouted as he lunged forward the moment he saw it, "I've got it!"
After an extreme diving move, Rishia successfully sent the ball up, but the height of the ball wasn't sufficient, it hit the net directly.
Suna lowered his center of gravity and bent down to pass the ball, sending it as high as possible toward the top of the net.
Hinata's video of retreating was blocked by Rishia, leaving him with no choice but to jump in place, unable to spike the ball.
Left with no other choice, he could only raise his hands and attempt to set the ball over to the other side of the net.
First, get the ball over the net; we can worry about the rest later.
Rishia quickly scrambled up and retreated, not obstructing the remaining movements of the others.
Seeing Hinata's serious expression, Kageyama, who was in a great mood, flashed a devious smile.
How was it? How did it feel to be beaten at something you're good at? I'm not doing too bad, am I?
Hinata shot him a glance.
—To be honest, it was terrible.
At the same time as Tanaka's shout, he immediately used his hands to bump the ball toward the Attack Line: "Opportunity Ball! Opportunity Ball!"
He could handle this kind of ball on his own; after all, he wasn't about to let it slip away or disrupt his own subsequent offensive movements.
Nishinoya Yu quickly took two steps forward to the Three-meter Line, making a motion as if preparing to jump.
As Suna's gaze shifted toward Nishinoya, a taller, heavier shadow appeared in his field of vision.
Kageyama, who had rushed from Position 2, leaped up on one foot and touched the ball with one hand, pushing it directly into Inarizaki's court before their block could even jump.
The ball grazed the net as it fell. While cursing inwardly, Miya Osamu lunged forward to save the ball.
After a light sound, the ball flew off the net; although the height was sufficient, Miya Atsumu in the back row had no time at all to step forward and set such a ball.
"I've got it!" Hinata shouted as he rushed over.
Many different speculations flashed through Kageyama's mind in an instant.
Hinata has been practicing his second receive constantly; if his progress is as fast as his offense, he might have already mastered the technique to handle a ball that hits the net..
Hinata, who had rushed toward the ball almost parallel to the net, suddenly leaped in front of the ball, raising both hands in preparation to touch it.
—As expected, it was a setting motion.
Kageyama's pupils contracted, staring at him, ready to block based on whoever his set might target.
But in the very next instant, Hinata partially turned his body in his line of sight, building upon what appeared to be a setting motion, he turned his back to the net and used his right hand to spike the ball into Karasuno's court with a single hand.
As the whistle blew, Hinata landed lightly without touching the net.
He tilted his head slightly and gave Kageyama a small smile.
Sorry, he doesn't know how to do that kind of high-difficulty stuff at all.
No time to set?
Then don't set it!
Hinata spread his arms to embrace the cheers from the entire crowd, his face filled with the pride and joy of having just toyed with Kageyama.
Kageyama was just a clumsy imitation; his tactics weren't limited to that simple fishing trick. He could play however he wanted!
It wasn't just his offense; his setting would also be one of his decoys. However, he was still limited in this regard for now, so he could only take advantage of the fact that Karasuno didn't know what he was actually capable of, but in the future, he would definitely master every single technique!
Despite scoring, Miya Atsumu couldn't bring himself to be happy at all: "That's truly disgusting."
He hated this kind of front-row strategy the most; although they weren't afraid of it, it was truly disgusting..
Can't Nekoma teach anything better?
Chapter 510: The Five Hundred and Tenth Fox
Applying pressure to the front row is a style of play that Nekoma excels at, built upon the foundation of Nekoma's spikers' powerful ball control and their disruptive playstyle.
After switching from the dual-setter lineup, Karasuno's setting was almost entirely in Kageyama's hands, with the remaining portion being the Libero's setting during multi-directional simultaneous attacks.
In comparison, the variety of attacks has decreased somewhat.
In this situation, it is understandable that Karasuno would choose such a relatively conservative and calculating way of playing.
But..
From Miya Atsumu's perspective, Karasuno's goal should be quite simple: to prevent them from organizing any offense, no matter the cost.
Once it was known that they were going to play a disruptive game, everything else became much simpler.
Analyzing Karasuno's rotation, the players on both sides of Tsukishima have changed significantly to Kageyama and Tanaka; both possess higher blocking height and overall blocking proficiency than the previous Tokita and Enoshita Chikara.
Moreover, once Tsukishima rotated to the front row, Inarizaki's Position 4 happened to be himself, which could be considered a relatively weak offensive zone, making it easy for Karasuno's strong blocking to exert its influence.
In a sense, it's a game of Tian Ji's horse racing.
Shiratori shrugged at Bokuto, attempting to explain the current situation to him.
Bokuto tried to understand the current situation.
Bokuto failed to understand.
He raised an incredibly profound question: "Why is there horse racing involved?"
Shiratori's expression froze for a moment. Realizing that he had used imprecise wording regarding Bokuto, he raised his hand to press against his forehead and explained in simpler, more understandable terms: "It's just that Karasuno is using their strong zones against Inarizaki's weak zones, then using a strategy of utilizing their own weak zones to stall for time to slow down Inarizaki's scoring rate."
He looked at Bokuto, who was thinking hard: "Did you understand it this time?"
Bokuto strained his brain to its limit, but finally, a spark of inspiration struck, he declared that he understood: "I completely understand! Natsume, you are simply amazing!"
Shiratori didn't want to hear Bokuto's praise; he actually wanted Bokuto to ask fewer questions.
But clearly, it was impossible for Bokuto to do that.
Having partnered with Bokuto for a year, he had basically figured out Bokuto's personality.
Bokuto's brain only truly starts working after he jumps, so if you want Bokuto to reach his full potential, a smart Setter is a necessity.