Inamoto didn't leave Ishikawa hanging this time; since Hinata was defending Position 4, Ishikawa's current position wasn't the best timing.
Hinata timed his jump perfectly, using his advantage of being closer to the ball to jump early, alongside Suna, he positioned himself directly in front of Ishikawa, intending to crush the spike.
Suna knew very well that he couldn't actually cover both sides at once, so he only needed to focus his pressure on the opponent's strategic side, leaving the other side to be handled by Ginjima and the rest of the back row.
Ishikawa kept his eyes fixed on the space above Hinata, with his spike angle aimed slightly downward.
Sensing the opponent's movement, Hinata made an instant judgment—Ishikawa was preparing to perform a dump.
A downward spike would likely be too late, given his lack of reach, it would be difficult for him to control the hit over the net.
Then I'll try thinking about it from a different angle.. I'll just cut it off from the middle.
Hinata decisively pulled back to create distance.
Seeing this, Ishikawa's lips curled slightly, but the moment of the spike was not the light tap Hinata had expected.
The ball, spiked with full force from his fingertips, struck Hinata's fingers directly, causing Hinata's center of gravity to shift backward as the ball flew off at an extremely high angle.
Watching the ball fly out of bounds, a very satisfied Ishikawa smiled at Hinata, whose expression had changed drastically, as he landed.
As for Hinata-senpai's fake moves, he had learned them one match at a time alongside Komori-senpai!
As Hinata landed, he stabilized his body and did not fall.
He didn't give Ishikawa a single extra glance, instead turning around to create distance, preparing for the subsequent offense.
Although this was a tooling the block, Ishikawa didn't use enough force; even though the ball's trajectory was high, it definitely wouldn't fly far.
Based on this alone, he was one hundred percent certain that his teammate could save it.
Just as he rushed to his designated position and turned to prepare his approach, he heard the sound of the ball hitting an arm.
Nishizawa's shout followed immediately: "Atsumu-senpai!!"
The stands erupted instantly: "What a play!!"
Bokuto was almost so excited that he nearly stood up: "That was so cool!"
The older men behind them shouted loudly, "Follow up! Take them down!!"
While Miya Atsumu moved into position for this ball, Hinata was already jumping at the net.
The extremely fast Quick Attack forced Itachiyama to commit at least one blocker to guard him.
And just as Ishikawa followed Hinata's movement toward the edge of the net, the ball in Miya Atsumu's hands was flicked into a set for Ginjima, who was positioned at Position 4.
This time, Ginjima's offensive conditions were even better. Suna's feint from the center caused enough interference for Ogihara, when Ogihara rushed forward, his coordination with Inamoto was severely out of sync. The blocking positions and subsequent jumping states of the two players caused Coach Utsunomiya to close his eyes by the sidelines.
A heavy thud exploded across the court as Ginjima spiked the ball straight through the gap between Inamoto and Ogihara, sending it crashing heavily into Itachiyama's side of the court.
Komori felt powerless against it, but he still lunged forward to try and save the ball.
With the net being empty, the heavy spike was simply impossible for him to reach from his deep position, in the end, he could only watch helplessly as the ball hit the floor.
The whistle blew, Inarizaki scores.
Hinata turned and immediately rushed toward Nishizawa, who had just returned from outside the railing, raising both hands to high-five him: "Great job, Nishizawa Hokuto!!"
Nishizawa, being held down by Hinata while clapping, had a face flushed bright red, his entire spirit exceptionally excited.
Because he knew.. that the one igniting the entire stadium at this very moment was himself.
This feeling is mesmerizing.
Nishizawa Hokuto nodded seriously. "I'll keep working hard!"
So.. I'll keep cheering for him like this in the future!
In the waiting area, Unabara Uta rubbed his chin, a faint, ominous premonition appearing in his heart.
It seemed like he hadn't done anything today that would draw Miya Atsumu's attention, so why did he have this chilling sensation running down his spine?
Akagi rested his chin in his hands while sitting in the stands, thinking about the previous exchange before saying softly, "Even though we have the upper hand, it's.. getting a bit difficult."
He could see that Itachiyama's tactical strategy was likely to split Inarizaki's block horizontally, using frequent attacks from Position 2 and Position 4 to exploit the horizontal distance of the net to bypass Inarizaki's block.
This was actually one of Inarizaki's strategies against Itachiyama, it had been very effective in previous matches.
When there are only two blockers, they truly have no way to deal with a spiker who excels at technical balls. Spreading the attack to both sides can effectively exhaust the blockers' energy, thereby creating more scoring opportunities for the spiker.
But this style of play is actually often limited by the strength of the opponent's back row defense; after all, compared to a middle block, a back row Libero can cover a much larger defensive area and is also much more flexible.
Therefore.. if Inarizaki's Libero is strong enough, choosing this way of playing would be meaningless for Itachiyama, other than being able to wear down Suna's condition.
Inamoto had certainly realized this long ago.
From previous footage, one could actually sense a portion of the Inarizaki libero's ability, but.. Nishizawa's receiving on these few balls was truly beautiful, to the point where it made him feel that the opponent was clearly stronger than yesterday.
But none of that mattered; his actual goal was the one on the surface—to wear down Suna.
As the most inconsistent player in Inarizaki, Suna's physical stamina is the factor that affects him the most.
As long as they can break through Suna's offense and defense, Inarizaki will surely reveal its weaknesses.
And.. their true Ace hasn't even started yet!
Suna slowly exhaled, withdrawing his gaze from Inamoto.
No matter what the opponent's goal was, he didn't care.
Anyway, he wasn't the true core of Inarizaki; it wouldn't matter who filled the middle blocker position, would it?
Suna made a hand gesture to Ginjima, who was circling around from behind him, to Miya Osamu, who was already positioned behind him.
Miya Osamu and Miya Atsumu exchanged a look and nodded to each other.
Middle blockers are called middle blockers because they possess a sharp sense for blocking, allowing them to lead others to cover both sides at any time.
But that doesn't mean that the blocking command for every team is carried out by the middle blocker; Karasuno would also choose Hakuma, who was tall enough, had long enough legs, possessed enough mobility, to serve as a middle blocker.
As for directing, as long as you have a mouth, you can do it anywhere.
Hinata glanced at several people, tilting his head in confusion.
Miya Atsumu chuckled. "It's fine, Shoyo, don't worry about it. Just play according to the original plan."
Most of the time, the block has nothing to do with Hinata.
Since Itachiyama is prepared to dismantle their firepower, they will simply dismantle them right back.
And in this regard, no one could do it better or apply it more flexibly than Hinata.
After discussing the situation with Xiaoxia, Shiratori said softly, "It remains to be seen who will emerge victorious."
Although Xiaoxia didn't fully understand, she still nodded vigorously: "Yeah!"
Bokuto's voice drifted in faintly at that moment: "Why is there something about deer? Where are the deer?"
Shiratori didn't look at him: "Bokuto, I'm giving you a very important task."
Hearing this, Bokuto perked up: "What, what?"
Shiratori tapped the back of his other hand with his finger. "In order to be a role model Ace for Xiaoxia, I'll have to trouble you to be serious today.. no, to be quiet, act like a man of few words, a super Ace senior."
Bokuto took him seriously, making a zipping motion with his fingers and giving Shiratori an OK sign.
Although he didn't know what the connection was between being quiet and being a role model.. Natsume wouldn't screw him over!
He trusts Natsume!
Chapter 520: The Five Hundred and Twentieth Fox
Miya Atsumu raised his hand to toss the ball he had received from Itachiyama to Hinata, who was preparing to serve, as Hinata walked toward his approach position, he glanced at the two coaches.
Coach Kurosu nodded at him but said nothing more.
Understanding that Coach Kurosu did not intend to change the server for a crucial point at this time, Hinata walked to his designated position with the ball in hand and turned to face the court.
Tokura raised his hands behind his head, providing cover for Hinata's serve.
Komori's hands were placed on his knees, his eyes watching the Head Referee's movements. As the opponent raised his hand, he straightened his back, preparing himself for the receiving movement.
Hinata had managed to figure out a bit of the serve pattern after watching the matches over the past few days; starting from yesterday morning's match against Star First, Hinata had begun frequently targeting the opponent's Position 1.
He admitted that Inamoto wasn't actually that good at handling balls coming from behind him.
But.. Sakusa didn't need such a good ball.
Even if they can't break through the block, it doesn't matter; their Ace fears no block or defense.
Hinata's serve was child's play for Komori.
Komori did his best to set the ball high, giving Inamoto as much time as possible to adjust.
And as for this back-set, the answer Inamoto gave was..
In the stands, Iizuna covered his face with his hands, feeling like his vision was going dark again and again.
Inamoto gave up his standard receiving stance facing Position 4, choosing instead to ensure he was facing the direction of the ball, which was.. directly toward Position 2.
Iizuna didn't know what else to say.
But indeed, it was the simplest solution; after all, Itachiyama could attack from both wings, so no matter how they adjusted, there wouldn't be any problems.
Looking at Inamura in Position 2, Inamoto shouted loudly, "Inamura-senpai!"
Just as Inamura was preparing to spike, Inamoto performed a back set toward Position 4.
Sakusa pushed off the ground and leaped, in the moment Tokura and Ginjima lunged forward, he redirected the ball toward Inarizaki's front row with a flick of his arm, sending it on a small diagonal with inward side spin.
Nishizawa rushed over, but the spin on the ball caused it to arc, hitting the bottom edge of the net directly.
The uncontrolled ball fell almost vertically toward the ground, Nishizawa's arms were lucky enough to cushion it, but they failed to lift the ball's height.
Miya Atsumu, who had just landed beside them, kicked his leg out, doing his best to send the ball toward the net.
Even though Hinata isn't in the front row, a ball like this.. someone should be able to keep up with it.. right?
Seeing the ball coming, Tokura rushed over to prepare for a spike, but his timing was completely off from the ball. On the opposite side, Ogihara slammed down with one hand, driving the ball down.
The ball slammed into Inarizaki's court, the whistle sounded immediately after.
"Uh." Tokura felt a bit awkward.