The Coach's bench is a bit hard and a bit cold.. In any case, he's had enough of sitting on the bench.
He supported Fukami in scoring ten points in one go.
“Akuma, hit a good one!”
Back in the fray, Hinata, who had rotated to the front row, cheered loudly for Kumagai.
Sakusa glanced down at him, that feeling of irritation in his heart grew even more pronounced.
It wasn't that he felt irritated because he "couldn't win"; if it were just a matter of lacking strength or having immature technique, it wouldn't matter—it would simply mean he wasn't strong enough.
But.. it's not like that right now.
He was confident that he could defeat Inarizaki in a head-on confrontation, but Inarizaki was doing everything possible to avoid a direct fight with him, focusing their blocking on a disruptive style that placed the vast majority of the pressure on the Libero.
Although he had originally prepared to play around Inarizaki's Libero, it didn't mean he could accept Inarizaki using his own ideas to achieve their own goals.
At this moment, he realized.. that this decision had ignored a most crucial premise from the very beginning.
—Inarizaki has more than one Libero they can use.
Unlike him, who had to precisely calculate his physical condition for every single match, even if Inarizaki exhausted this Libero in this match, they would still have Unabara Uta for the next one.
Moreover, the crux of the problem was that he was a bit unclear about what he needed to do right now.
Whether it was responding to Inarizaki's various attacks or figuring out how to contend with Inarizaki's defense, Itachiyama currently had no complete solution.
There was a sensation.. of being completely led by the nose by their opponent.
"The command has lost its order," Iizuna couldn't help but sigh from the stands.
How did Itachiyama lose at last year's Haruko? Ultimately, it was due to the chaos in overall coordination and the lack of order within the team.
Itachiyama possesses sufficiently strong spikers and a libero, but this can only be described as a spear and a shield.
Perhaps they might be invincible in daily practice by relying on the sharpness of the spear and the solidity of the shield, but when facing an opponent of equal caliber, what is needed even more is a "knight" capable of wielding both freely.
Inamoto is not a commander who can perform under pressure during a match.
He knew this, Inamoto knew this, both coaches were well aware of it, but Itachiyama truly had no better choice than Inamoto.
Watching the ball roll to his feet, Sakusa lowered his gaze.
The scoreboard by the sidelines flickered to Inarizaki 14:12 Itachiyama.
Just a little.. more.
Inarizaki's change in tactics did indeed catch them off guard, but without Miya Atsumu on the court, they ultimately lacked a certain finesse; this brute-force style of play wasn't much different from the current Itachiyama.
In that case.. I can't treat Inarizaki like Inarizaki right now; I'll just have to treat them like any other team.
He needs time to adapt to the current transition rhythm between Inarizaki's quick attack and strong attack.
Inarizaki's current pseudo four-two.. no, their three-three formation is not affected by the front row and back row positioning of Hinata, Kumagai, Miya Osamu, so their overall performance is quite chaotic; his and Komori's defense cannot keep up at all because of the chaos in the front row block.
Similarly, this heavy offensive pressure indirectly caused them to be unable to organize an attack on their end.
Finding a way to regain the initiative is the priority right now.
Sakusa turned his head toward his junior on the side: "Inamoto.."
Inamoto did not hear him.
His fists clenched unconsciously, the fabric in his palms being crushed into a ball.
His heart was beating somewhat fast, but his stamina shouldn't have been depleted to that extent.
This won't work; it can't continue like this.
He had to do something to stop this impending collapse.
But.. he didn't know what he should do at this moment.
No, calm down.
Iizuna-senpai had taught him that there was no such thing as an absolute dead end; as long as one could calm down and think, a way out could always be found.
His gaze moved rapidly across the entire court, scanning through the Inarizaki members one by one.
With Miya Atsumu off the court, this should have been Itachiyama's chance to take a set back.
But why..
Why..
He turned it into this mess?
In his field of vision was the bottom edge of the net, behind it were Hinata and Suna, who were saying something.
In terms of the Quick Attack, besides the traditional varieties, Kumagai usually leads with off-beat timing. Considering the positioning of the front row players, the primary space for maneuverability should be at the two nodes of Position 2 and Position 3.
But he had to be wary of the off-tempo plays Miya Osamu used to set up Hinata; he had seen them in the footage before.
In terms of heavy spikes, Ginjima, Miya Osamu, Kumagai are all usable spikers. When Hinata is setting, he mostly has to perform a Strong Attack, but he also has to take technical balls into consideration.
No.. Has Inarizaki's current state actually become somewhat.. flourishing, precisely because Miya Atsumu is not on the court?
Hoshiumi reached up to stroke his chin by the sidelines. "Is it really Itachiyama's blocking problem after all?"
Inarizaki had used this kind of messy playstyle when they played against Karasuno, but as long as the block could keep up in time, it wouldn't actually collapse like this.
But for a team like Itachiyama, which relies heavily on pre-match preparation, this kind of chaos is something they won't be able to digest in a short amount of time.
His head was spinning, the sensation of physical exhaustion after exerting himself had never felt so clear.
He tried to turn his brain, but felt as if his thoughts were snagged and stuck somewhere.
What should he do?
Thinking through the situation of Inarizaki from beginning to end, he couldn't find a single point to launch a counterattack.
At this rate—
If this continues—
Calm down, Inamoto. Your breathing is too fast.
Inamoto snapped his head to the side, Sakusa's profile came into view.
He looked down at the team uniform he had already crumpled into a ball in his grip, slowly relaxed his hand.
Sakusa's tone was very calm, as if he were discussing what to eat for tomorrow with everyone else.
Don't rush, don't overthink, don't try to do things you're not good at.
Adjust your state of mind, the rest.. just leave it to me.
The current situation isn't great; Inarizaki hasn't even fully revealed its hand yet.
Given that the opponents still have strength left, his judgment is that there is no need to consider the remaining schedule.
After all, this set was already match point for Inarizaki; only by winning this set could they earn the right to enter the Deciding Set.
For this..
He was willing to bet everything he had left.
He has already made up his mind..
Sakusa's movements paused for a moment.
He gave a sudden, inexplicable smile, his hands hanging at his sides clenching and then relaxing slightly.
This kind of hot-blooded stuff really wasn't suited to him at all.
But no matter what, at this moment, he is still Itachiyama's Ace.
A match played with everything one has—as expected, it's something that's impossible to refuse, no matter when it is.
Inamoto bit his lip.
His own incompetence.. he had known that for a long time.
He was not suited at all to be like Iizuna-senpai and the others. But even so, he had things that he could do himself.
Inamoto let out a soft breath. "I understand. I'll do my best."
If we don't pull this off, this will be the end.
—Let's pave the way for the Ace without any hesitation.
Since there is no way to counter the opponent's strong attack, then we might as well put forth an even stronger attack than theirs.
They can do it; they can definitely do it.
To have to slink back home in disgrace before even touching the final championship trophy.. he never wanted to go through that again!
Miya Atsumu lowered his legs.
Has his fighting spirit ignited a little?
It's a bit of a shame; the person on the court at a time like this isn't him.
But it didn't matter; compared to opponents he had already defeated many times, he truly wanted to see the look on Hoshiumi and the others' faces when they failed.
Atsumu tilted his head slightly toward the two people standing side by side outside the court, a faint smile playing on his lips.
—You think so too, don't you?
Chapter 527: The Five Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Fox
Miya Osamu lightly spun the ball in his hands.
Indeed, a two-point lead was still too small; if the goal was to completely kill off the match, a lead of at least ten points would have been better.
The whistle sounded in his ears, at the same time, Miya Osamu began a countdown in his mind.
Fukami, who was already sitting on the Coach's bench, was caught in his peripheral vision; he had already understood the Coach's arrangement.
Then.. let's start laying the groundwork from this moment on.
As the countdown reached its final moment, Miya Osamu raised his hand and tossed the ball into the air.
Komori stared at the volleyball, not surprised that Miya Osamu would choose to time it to the very last second.