In this set, Itachiyama honestly let Sakusa serve, Inarizaki also honestly let Hinata stand in Position 4..
It looked like a very ordinary and normal situation, but for some reason, Hoshiumi still had a very subtle feeling.
He rubbed his chin, staring at Kumagai, who was being covered by Miya Osamu, said, "Inarizaki actually doesn't let the first server in Position 3 serve first."
In the previous set, Sakusa's serve had a very high scoring rate. Although Inarizaki's Libero could receive them, there was a fifty percent chance that the ball would fly out of control due to the different spin on each of Sakusa's serves, indirectly preventing Inarizaki from organizing their subsequent offense and causing them to lose points.
If Sakusa gains a significant advantage at the Opening, Inarizaki might be in real trouble if they don't have enough ways to block..
But when it comes to blocking, isn't offense also one of the best countermeasures?
The whistle blew, the Head Referee signaled that Sakusa could serve.
Sakusa's movements were quick and decisive; after confirming that his condition was fine, he immediately tossed the ball into the air.
He was never the type to give up halfway; since the strategy against Inarizaki's Libero had already been finalized in the previous set, he had no reason to abandon it.
Nishizawa looked up, staring at the trajectory of the ball as it traced its path through the air.
After an entire set of direct confrontation, he had gradually adapted to Sakusa's heavy spin serve.
Because Sakusa's serve has a curve brought by the spin, even though the ball's speed is not slow, the time it takes for the ball to travel from being spiked to entering the defensive range is longer than a typical Power Serve.
The uncontrollable spin also brought a longer response time and more reaction space.
And this.. was his chance.
The moment the ball cleared the top of the net, Nishizawa Hokuto took a step toward his left.
A teeth-gritting heavy thud exploded in his ears. Kumagai tilted his head slightly, in his retreating field of vision, he saw the sight of Nishizawa's arms forcefully popping the ball up.
Nishizawa's receive was a bit off, but.. it wasn't a big problem, as long as it was high enough.
Kumagai looked up, tracking the ball, quickly adjusted his position to the area behind the three-meter line near the side of Position 2.
Atsumu had taught him that a good setter must never be constrained by the quality of the first receive.
He has his own physical advantages, which grant him the ability to calmly deliver a pass from any position on the court.
Kumagai faced Position 4, having already retreated to the outer side of the court, with the ball and the three spikers who had already moved forward within his field of vision.
In this situation, there was no way to pull off a Quick Attack. After all, he couldn't control the ball with the same precision as Miya Atsumu in any situation; the ball he tossed would inevitably require a back row player to follow up and adjust..
No, actually, that's not it either.
There are always people who can follow the ball's deviation from the back row after jumping, aren't there?
Kumagai's arms were tucked inward, a textbook setter's setting motion.
His elbows pointed toward the direction of the toss, his arm muscles tensing as he prepared to exert force.
Miya Atsumu bared his teeth on the Coach's bench, leaning his body slightly backward.
He had actually complained about Kumagai more than once.
Every time Kumagai made a long-distance pass like that, spanning over nine meters, it was as if he were taking a shot at the basket.
Of course, he wasn't referring to the form, but rather Kumagai's.. it wasn't about the toss, it was that momentum of scoring.
However, there was nothing wrong with thinking that way.
After all.. the purpose of a toss is, of course, to score.
Koldorf's brain stopped working the moment he saw Kumagai's movement.
The ball flew from the far end at an incredibly high speed; it didn't feel like a ball traveling across the entire court, but rather like a close-range quick attack.
He rushed toward the ball's trajectory like Inarizaki's Position 2, while Hinata had already jumped to follow the ball.
The ball Kumagai provided was not actually a conventional parabola, but rather a flat ball similar to a Line.
Hinata estimated the ball's trajectory with his eyes, only to find that he had jumped a little too high.
Inamoto and Koldorf had also caught up by this time, cutting off Hinata's path to hit a Kou Chokusen.
On the other side, Ishikawa arrived just like Hinata had blocked him earlier, cutting off Hinata's path for a Short Diagonal.
Hinata's expression remained unchanged, as he went through the motion of a normal arm swing, he slightly turned his body.
Under his control, the jump toward the marker's position moved even closer to the edge, but he adjusted it into a state where he was almost facing toward Position 2.
In the moment Inamoto realized something was wrong and tried to adjust his movement to block Hinata's spike, Hinata swung his right hand, while sideways, he pressed the ball even lower into Itachiyama's court.
Sakusa dove from the back row, but he still couldn't keep up.
Inarizaki scores.
Amatori gasped, "Whoa, that was terrifying."
"Akuma, Akuma!" Hinata raised both hands and waved them at Kumagai.
Kumagai walked over quickly and high-fived Hinata: "Good job, Shoyo!"
Hinata chuckled, "Akuma was great too!"
Hoshiumi, standing by the sidelines, nodded repeatedly, affirming Kumagai's words: "As expected of Hinata's first setter, the chemistry is just there."
Hirugami smiled. "Miya Atsumu would probably cry if he heard that."
Hoshiumi rolled his eyes. "Who cares about him."
Although he hadn't expected Hinata to be a Little Giant when they first met, some people had openly expressed their contempt and mocked Hinata.
Regardless, he will help Hinata remember this grudge.
And.. when he was tossing to Hinata, Miya Atsumu was still playing in the dirt by the side of the court!
Thinking of this, Hoshiumi became even more smug.
Regarding the upcoming match between them and Fukurodani, he actually felt no pressure at all.
Fukurodani's coordination was not very good. Although they had Akaashi Keiji and Saru Nagi, they were fine against other teams, but they were still quite a bit behind Karasuno.
Saru's level as a first-year Ace isn't quite that high yet; he might be a strong contender for the championship next year, but.. not now.
Rather than the upcoming match, he is looking forward to the Finals even more.
Of course, he was looking forward to Inarizaki even more than Itachiyama.
In the final match of his student days, he didn't want to leave behind any regrets.
——It's time to settle the score from last autumn.
Having successfully interrupted Sakusa's Service Turn, the atmosphere on Inarizaki's side relaxed instantly.
Komori clapped his hands to soothe everyone's emotions: "It's okay, it's okay. Next ball."
Sakusa pursed his lips, suddenly called out to Inamoto in front of him, "Toss it to me."
Upon hearing this, Inamoto froze in place.
A flash of surprise crossed his face, but his answer was decisive and without any hesitation: "Alright."
Koldorf glanced back at Sakusa, who was warming up his wrists, but said nothing.
Komori smiled. "Go for it, go for it! Don't give Inarizaki a chance to score consecutive points!"
Actually.. he was just as surprised as Inamoto and the others.
Sakusa doesn't often demand the ball, let alone make such an explicit demand that the setter must play entirely around him for an entire set.
The team's overall tactics center around Sakusa, but a setter revolving entirely around Sakusa is different; Sakusa's demand means that as long as the ball can be delivered to his hands, it must be, without needing to consider any other tactical options.
Of course, Inamoto knew in his own heart which balls could be set and which could not.
Komori bounced in place twice, waiting for Miya Osamu on Inarizaki's side to serve.
Sakusa was being so aggressive in this set.. he absolutely couldn't lose either!
Miya Osamu gave a slight nod toward the Itachiyama players across the net, confirming he was ready as the Head Referee blew the whistle to signal his Serve.
Miya Osamu waited patiently until the very end of the service time before tossing the ball unhurriedly, his target for the serve being Sakusa.
As Itachiyama's absolute offensive core, Sakusa remains a massive threat even from the back row.
The reason Sakusa failed to make an impact from the back row earlier was more than half due to Inarizaki's "special attention" directed toward Sakusa's back-row positioning.
After all, Sakusa is not only responsible for offense, but he is also Itachiyama's strongest regular receiving point besides Komori.
The relatively tricky part was that Sakusa could skillfully master how to handle the ball without his knees touching the floor, thereby ensuring his opportunities for subsequent offense.
Therefore, when targeting Sakusa, they both tried their best to hit long-distance corner shots to force Sakusa into making movements like a diving that would disrupt his center of gravity.
As for this ball, Miya Osamu still chose to hit it into the corner beside Sakusa.
Watching the trajectory of the ball, Sakusa, who had been focused on it for an entire set, guessed the path of this ball almost instantly.
He certainly had no interest in being led by the nose by Inarizaki, nor did he have any desire to keep crawling all over the floor.
Even if the floor is basically being wiped down after every single ball now, the feeling of crawling around on the ground is still quite terrible..
In Miya Osamu's field of vision, Sakusa didn't make any move until the ball actually dropped.
And just as the ball was about to hit Sakusa's center of gravity, he suddenly lowered his center of gravity and extended his leg, using the side of his calf to accurately bump the ball.
A solid thud rang out, the ball was popped up toward Itachiyama's front row, but the placement was a bit off.
Atsumu took a sharp breath.
You have to understand that whether it was Komori or Sakusa, their previous receiving strategy was to keep the ball as stable as possible, giving the Setter enough room to play.
In fact, Sakusa only ensured the basic height for this ball, even the positioning was off.
But.. Sakusa himself was completely liberated.
No, should it be said that this is actually Itachiyama's optimal solution at this very moment?
As long as the back row Ace's initiative is guaranteed, there won't be any problems as long as the Setter can keep up and "deliver" the ball.
Miya Atsumu was surprised, yet not that surprised.
Although it didn't seem like Sakusa, this style of choosing the method with the highest probability of success after careful consideration was indeed something Sakusa could do.
Because the "perfection" they pursued had now become a weapon used against them, it was only natural to discard it.
Was he forced.. into making another choice?
After receiving the ball, Sakusa quickly retreated to create enough distance for his approach.