While Miya Atsumu was setting the Quick Attack, he also had to look after Rishia and Miya Osamu, who could perform a back-row attack, making Karasuno's back row defense somewhat strained.
To put it bluntly, Nishinoya is the only one on Karasuno with exceptional defensive skills, a few strong individuals alone cannot carry an entire team.
No matter how amazing Nishinoya is, they just need to find a way to avoid him.
The court is so large that if a team actually forced their Libero to cover the entire court alone, it would be the height of absurdity.
Although Nekoma's Yaku is capable of covering the entire back half of the court, he is assisted by others most of the time, so he isn't truly left to hold the line alone.
Moreover, they can use their own medicine against them; by using tips in the front row, they can further suppress Karasuno's defense.
The advantage of them using this tactic is that Hinata and Miya Osamu can use tip shots; there is a fundamental difference between a ball with backspin and one that is tipped directly over.
Unless the Libero is positioned far forward themselves, there is simply no way to keep up with this ball.
To better handle a backspin spike, one would have to either have the front row block turn around, or have the nearest person perform the receive in the case of a double block.
But it was obvious that most of Karasuno, including Narita and Tanaka, lacked the ability to handle a backspin spike.
After missing once again, Tanaka couldn't help but slam the ground with his fist. "Damn it!"
Nishinoya immediately spoke up to take the blame: "It's mine, it's mine!"
Tanaka scrambled up from the ground, denying it: "It's not your fault, it's mine."
After Azumane graduated, he was the one who took over the Ace position at Karasuno.
However, in their previous dual-setter playstyle, the Ace's presence wasn't high enough, as they were mostly supporting the Middle Blocker's quick attacks to score. His advantage and his task were to properly handle strong attacks from Position 4 and the playstyle from the back-row positions.
But now, he was exhausted from dealing with the front-court balls tipped by Inarizaki, his performance was far less composed than the players from Inarizaki on the opposing side.
The destiny of an Ace is to handle pressure, he understands this well.
Someone provided cover for him during the first receive, but he lacked the qualification to remain in that state of composure for the subsequent attack.
Perhaps because he had been booed so much by the Inarizaki people during his serves, he thought he heard someone laughing at him in a daze.
The Karasuno third years all came today, they are currently in the stands cheering for them.
His performance.. is far inferior to that of his juniors.
It was a bit uncomfortable.
Miya Atsumu slightly lifted his chin to observe the expressions on the faces of the people over at Inarizaki.
Just as Karasuno wants to pressure their way of playing, they can also put pressure on Karasuno.
Despite having a seemingly weak presence and not having the highest score, as a setter, he could easily judge that many of Karasuno's plays were only possible because an "Ace" existed.
Because as long as Inarizaki truly stopped caring, Tanaka would indeed be able to score.
In last year's matches, Aran's performance didn't leave a great impression on most of the casual spectators; if it weren't for his striking skin color, his presence would have been just as low as Tanaka's.
But the title of Best Spiker still went to Aran, because as long as one could calmly analyze the situation, it would be clear that Aran was the true MVP among those Spikers.
To handle the pressure without making mistakes—that was enough.
They would never demand a Spiker to score while under pressure; after all, he wasn't a monster, at most he would just complain a few words to Aran.
Karasuno was at a disadvantage, but their playstyle remained relatively steady. Even at this stage, they had not shown any particularly major openings and could frequently extend rallies to try and seize the initiative. Meanwhile, Tsukishima had already jumped and was preparing to spike the ball, Inarizaki's block followed immediately.
The moment he spiked, Tsukishima knew something was wrong.
He was a bit tired.
Among all the players from Karasuno, he could be considered to have the poorest physical condition. After several days of matches, even though he only played half a match as a Middle Blocker, his condition was ultimately exhausted to the limit.
Moreover, Inarizaki's quick attacks were truly difficult to control. With his physical stamina draining rapidly, his brain worked even slower, his control over his body became even lower.
Therefore, he didn't put enough power into the spike, the ball hit Tokura's fingers at a steep angle, flying out of bounds behind the court.
The ball didn't fly very far; Inarizaki was fully capable of keeping up with it. With such an excellent set, the subsequent offense Inarizaki organized would be extremely difficult to handle..
Glancing at the trajectory of the ball, Hinata decisively made a hand signal behind his back.
He was in the back row at this moment, so Miya Atsumu and the others in the front row could not see his signal.
But seeing his instructions, Unabara Uta overturned the previous command given by Miya Atsumu in just one second. After all.. Miya Atsumu had previously agreed to Hinata's suggestion to follow his lead for this entire set.
.. I think he said.. that.
Unabara Uta, who had already rushed forward, didn't bother to think much more; he ran in front of the ball, turned, jumped to reach it.
The ball, having been touched by the block, was even lighter than before, making it easy to handle even with an overhead pass. Since Unabara Uta was already very skilled at overhead setting, no one thought there was any problem.
Miya Atsumu looked up and saw the ball flying toward the area near the three-meter line by Position 4, while he was currently on the other side.
His expression darkened instantly. How could Unabara Uta make a mistake on such a simple ball? Had he been giving Unabara Uta too much leeway lately?
Just as he was preparing to lift his foot to chase the ball, an orange shadow had already jumped into the air after a single-step approach in his peripheral vision.
In the next second, the crisp sound of a spike rang in everyone's ears, Hinata spiked the ball with heavy spin, sending it straight down the line.
Tsukishima and the others, who had not reacted in time, had no chance to keep up; since the spike had cleared the net, the ball's speed was extremely fast.
Nishinoya reacted instinctively, reaching out with one hand to try and receive the ball; after all, Hinata had jumped from the back row, so the ball's trajectory would be longer than a standard front-row play.
But Nishinoya, who didn't have enough time to prepare, ultimately failed to neutralize the heavy spin on the ball; it hit his arm and flew out of bounds.
The whistle blew, the Head Referee signaled that Inarizaki scores.
Landing, Hinata silently shook his hand and curled his lips into a smirk, tilting his chin toward Kageyama on the opposite side.
Although there hadn't been many opportunities to demonstrate it before, he was also very skilled at the back-row attack.
He said that Inarizaki has no true period of weakness.
No matter what stage of their game the opponents try to target, their ultimate goal will never be achieved!
Hinata cheered, raising both hands high as he rushed toward Unabara Uta: "That was amazing, Unabara Uta! We're the best partners!"
Unabara Uta, who had also been feeling quite emotional and wanted to reply with "Of course!", caught Miya Atsumu's gaze for a second before decisively changing his words before they could escape: "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare."
Miya Atsumu, who was truly startled, crossed his arms over his chest and stared blankly at the two of them. "You two certainly have some nerve."
Couldn't they have given him a heads-up about this sudden tactic?
He certainly liked some unconventional playstyles, but that didn't mean he liked being played for a fool.
Hinata looked at Miya Atsumu with great sincerity: "We scored."
This sentence shut Miya Atsumu up; he truly didn't want to listen to that kind of repetitive, parrot-like sophistry.
Forget it, just score. We can settle the score later.
But just as he thought, some of Hinata's tactical ideas could indeed catch the opponents off guard.
—Of course, the same goes for his own teammates.
Miya Atsumu could only ultimately instruct, "Take it easy."
Hinata raised his hand and replied, "You got it! Leave it to me!"
Not stopping him meant full approval; it was time for his performance!
Unabara Uta shrugged his shoulders.
It's hard to say about the rest, but he felt that he was finished.
It's decided. From now on, he will play even harder. He will also take the title of Best Libero this time, so Miya Atsumu won't have anything to say about it.
Anyway, once Haruko is over, the third-year seniors will retire. Even if Miya Atsumu will likely still come to the Volleyball Club frequently, he.. he won't be able to control him anymore!!
Unabara Uta was full of confidence, his gaze toward Nishinoya on the opposite side became even more intense.
Although there is a precedent for the Best Libero of Haruko being from a Semifinals team, most of the time, the award goes to the Emotional Champion Senior.
As long as his performance isn't exceptionally bad, or if the Libero of the teams in the Semifinals performs exceptionally well, the award will definitely go to the Emotional Champion Senior.
Whether it's Nishinoya or Komori, he will defeat them all!
Win the championship, win the award, send Miya Atsumu packing!
Very good, his path to survival is clearly defined; all that's left is for him to put in the work!
Unabara Uta's eyes were full of fighting spirit, momentarily giving Rishia the feeling that his inner cosmos was exploding.
Compared to the great form of Hinata and Unabara Uta, Tokura was not quite as prominent.
Meanwhile, after pondering for a moment, Coach Kurosu asked Coach Omimi beside him, "Why was Tokura Yukihito in such good form during the National Sports Festival?"
Coach Omimi thought about it seriously.
Given that the opponents' skill levels were similar, there were no significant differences in the tournament schedule or their own players, the only difference and the one point Tokura cared about specifically was..
Before Coach Omimi could figure it out, Kumagai, sitting on the coach's bench, spoke softly, "Ah, it's like someone is standing behind him with a whip, isn't it?"
Coach Omimi nodded. "Yeah."
After a long silence, Coach Kurosu, who was also lost in thought, nodded along. "That Teacher Gojo.. certainly has a lot of personality."
He had certainly met the other party before, the other party's abstract sense of fashion made his presence in the Inarizaki supporters' section exceptionally high, so high that.. Coach Aran from Karasuno remembered him.
To clarify Tokura's motivation, Coach Kurosu asked directly, "Does he have time to come over the day after tomorrow?"
Coach Omimi thought back for a moment, as the one in charge of logistics, he replied, "I don't remember leaving a spot for him in the supporters' section, but.. Haseda Katsuya's junior high coach told his grandmother that they would be coming the day after tomorrow."
“I saved him a seat in the first row.”
Coach Kurosu nodded, "Alright."
Actually, during last year's Haruko, they had invited Kita Shinsuke's grandmother, but she declined due to her limited mobility and chose to watch the live broadcast at home instead.
Haseda's grandmother has been doing well lately, since she has a coach from Haseda's Junior High accompanying her, it is safer for the two of them to come together.
Coach Kurosu made the final decision: "There probably won't be any more chances in today's match. I doubt Haseda Katsuya will be able to achieve much against that blocking style on the other side either. Let him practice tomorrow."
Glancing at the people on the court, he turned his head again and said, "By the way, I'll tell Hinata separately in a moment."
Kumagai nodded: "I completely understand."
Chapter 512: The 512th Fox
After several rounds of play, the service right passed to Rishia. Hinata raised a finger toward Rishia, who was walking toward the service position with the ball in his hands, signaling him to take this point: "Give me a good serve! Heisuke!!"