From a rational perspective, Itachiyama is currently eager to break through the current situation, a perfectly timed serve could maximize this urgency to force them into making mistakes.
But to fall into Inarizaki's trap so easily.. for the High School's First Libero, he's being a bit too embarrassing.
I've got it!
Komori, who had already spread his defensive coverage across more than two-thirds of the court, quickly moved a step toward his right, lowering his center of gravity to execute a forearm pass against Miya Osamu's incredibly heavy power serve.
Miya Osamu curled his lip, landing while simultaneously securing his position in preparation for the subsequent defense.
Inamoto praised aloud, "What a great first receive!"
Don't think about anything else; don't do anything unnecessary.
Give Sakusa as much offensive space as possible; trying to draw away the block or anything similar is one hundred percent useless when facing Suna.
Trusting the Ace is enough.
Suna quickly approached Sakusa, who had already adjusted his position to the center, bringing Hinata and Ginjima along with him.
Sakusa has sufficiently flexible wrists, so his approach to strong attacks is completely different from other Aces; most of the time, he occupies the highest point at Position 3, where he has the widest and most flexible line of sight.
With Inamoto not providing cover, Sakusa's movements were essentially.. no guesswork required.
The moment Sakusa jumped in his field of vision, Suna and Ginjima leaped along with him, while Hinata on the other side jumped slightly earlier to ensure he could reach the highest point at the same time as the other two.
But just as Hinata's vision rose along with his jump, Sakusa, who had already leaped, began to descend.
Hinata's mind went completely blank.
Eh? It dropped?
Is this.. an Individual time difference?!
The hang time of Inamoto's toss was long enough; they should have considered this possibility.
But it's too late to think about that now.
Having already approached the peak, Hinata attempted to release the momentum; having already made his move a step ahead, he had more opportunities to adjust at this moment than Suna and Ginjima.
Sakusa doesn't often use the individual time difference.
Because for him, who has poor stamina and requires even more precise planning, the individual time difference is an extra drain on his physical energy.
Compared to jumping twice and having to mentally analyze the situation, versus simply using a technical ball after a pure jump, the former consumes a far more terrifying amount of energy.
But just because he doesn't do it often doesn't mean Sakusa can't.
Just like Hinata, this high-effort, high-risk style of play only appears when one is truly backed into a corner with no other choice.
There is still half a set left, Sakusa is using this kind of playstyle at a time like this..
In Miya Atsumu's field of vision, Hinata had already landed and jumped again. However, Sakusa possessed an absolute height advantage; after using an individual time difference to shake off Suna and create separation, he had already reached the high point once more.
Nishizawa hurriedly retreated to attempt a defense, but with the ball being so close to the net, Sakusa's spike path was completely unobstructed.
He aimed for the only gap in Inarizaki's defense to the front-side of Nishizawa and spiked the ball directly into the Inarizaki court.
Nishizawa lunged forward, but in the end, he couldn't keep up.
The whistle blew, Itachiyama scores.
Miya Atsumu relaxed his stiff body: "Not bad."
Itachiyama was being pushed to their limits by them, being forced to use Sakusa in this way during this set.. Even if Fukami fails to create a decisive gap in a while, Itachiyama will still be eighty percent unable to compete with them in the next set.
Regardless, this result was within the range they could accept.
This clean and beautiful play gave the Itachiyama members a huge boost.
Inamoto breathed a sigh of relief while cheering loudly for Sakusa: "Beautiful! Sakusa-senpai, that was a great serve! Get it all back in one go!"
This is the turning point of their comeback.
Even if Sakusa-senpai rotates to the back row, it wouldn't be a big problem; he could still utilize a back-row attack.
As for receiving.. Sakusa-senpai will find a way himself.
Ishikawa, who had moved to the front row, glanced slightly at Inamoto beside him and frowned imperceptibly.
He sighed and turned to say, "As for defense.. I'll work hard at it too, so please don't feel too much pressure, Senpai."
Inamoto was stunned for a moment before realizing that Ishikawa was speaking to him.
He waved his hand and said, "Me? I don't have any defensive pressure."
Ishikawa remained silent for a moment, only able to turn his head and sigh again.
Sakusa's serve still focused intently on Nishizawa, but this time the goal was not simply to exhaust Nishizawa's stamina; he aimed to disrupt Nishizawa's movements and center of gravity as much as possible, briefly pulling him away from Inarizaki's core defensive formation.
Even just a little bit would be enough for them to build on later.
Koldorf's eyes followed Miya Atsumu intently the moment the ball was received by Nishizawa's diving.
Sakusa's serve was incredibly tricky; because Nishizawa was forced into a diving receive, he couldn't provide a perfect ball like before, Kumagai lacked Miya Atsumu's precision in setting.
And this was their best chance to counter-attack through a block!
Kumagai in the back row and Miya Osamu approached the position of the front row's three-meter line almost simultaneously; judging solely by their movements, it was impossible to tell who would actually be the one to set the ball.
Koldorf's eyes followed the ball.
A quick attack directed at a fixed point doesn't require the extreme mobility and anticipation needed when coordinating with Miya Atsumu like before; Position 1 is more than enough.
Miya Osamu jumped a step ahead of Kumagai, reaching out his hand as if prepared to make a touch.
But..
He didn't touch it.
Koldorf froze for a moment.
Was he planning to let the ball drop directly at the net? Given the angle and Hinata's position, a direct spike wouldn't seem impossible.
In his peripheral vision, Hinata had already pulled back a sufficient distance.
The Itachiyama blockers no longer hesitated, stepping forward quickly to prepare for the block.
A heavy thud echoed in his ears as the ball flew toward the net.
Hinata's spike faltered slightly, the ball flew straight over the net, dropping toward the edge of the Itachiyama court.
Ishikawa, who was closest, reacted extremely quickly; while leaning his body slightly, he used one hand to spike the ball back.
Hinata's expression changed slightly, but Kumagai in the back row reacted quickly, stepping forward to scoop the ball up with one hand. "One more time!"
Ishikawa, having lost his balance, stumbled two steps as he landed before finally falling to the ground.
Kumagai's placement on this ball was quite good. Miya Osamu shifted his body slightly, then jumped in place to cover Hinata, who was moving toward the ball from the front row, before quickly transitioning the ball to Ginjima Yui on the other side.
Facing the approaching Koldorf and Inamoto, Ginjima Yui showed not a shred of fear, choosing instead to face them head-on.
As a Wing Spiker who had not participated in the entire tournament, Ginjima Yui's physical condition was still very full at this moment.
He aimed for the gap between the two players and spiked the ball into it with all his strength.
A heavy thud exploded as Sakusa dove to attempt a save, but although he made contact, he couldn't control the ball.
The whistle blew, the Head Referee signaled that Inarizaki scores, pulling the point difference back to two once again.
Fukami rose from the Inarizaki coach's bench, a sight caught in his peripheral vision, causing Komori's heart to sink.
—This is bad.
Suna and Fukami completed their rotation, Fukami took over the position of the server as he stepped onto the court.
Fukami glanced at the scoreboard, which showed that victory was less than ten points away, tilted his head slightly.
Ten minutes was indeed quite difficult, but if it was less than ten minutes.. it wasn't impossible to challenge.
Miya Osamu's serve just now was a serve that caught the very last second of the service time limit, giving Itachiyama the feeling that they wanted to exploit their opponent's sense of urgency.
Then right now..
Komori stared at the Inarizaki members on the opposite side; he was currently somewhat uncertain about what kind of serve Fukami was preparing to use.
A server who can master both overhead and underhand serves is someone you can only truly know what kind of serve they are going to hit at the very moment the ball is tossed.
Unable to position oneself in advance and unable to predict.. it's certainly quite tricky.
Fukami stared at the Head Referee's movements.
At the moment the whistle blew, he suddenly raised his hand to toss the ball up and took a half-step back. As the ball descended, his hand swung forward from behind to strike the volleyball with a heavy blow.
With a heavy thud, the ball was struck with immense power, turning into a blur before everyone's eyes.
Komori frowned, looking up in an attempt to judge where the ball would land.
No, the ball isn't on his side..
He turned his head toward Inamura: "Inamura!"
As the sound arrived, the ball had already come crashing down, passing between Inamura's arms during his receiving movement and hitting him directly on his foot.
The ball bounced up again, but it skidded off the floor at an extremely low angle, flying out of bounds.
Sakusa dove to chase it down, barely managing to touch the ball.
The ball went out of control and fell toward the net, Komori hurriedly shouted, "Ishikawa!"
But just as Ishikawa jumped, Hinata had already jumped to the high point in front of the net a step ahead of him, forcefully smashing the ball back right in front of his eyes.
Ishikawa, knocked off balance by the ball, lost control and fell to the ground.
Thud!!
Hinata, landing a step slower than the volleyball, raised a finger and pointed from afar toward Subaru in the back row: "Subaru! One more!"
Fukami responded loudly, "Yes!"
Having said that, Hinata turned his head slightly toward Ishikawa, who had fallen to the ground on the opposite side. "Sorry, you're not hurt, are you?"
Ishikawa grit his teeth, staring intensely at Hinata. "Next time, I will win."
Kumagai, standing behind Hinata, let out a light chuckle and shrugged at Ishikawa. "Sorry, the next time might be a long way off."
As Ishikawa's expression changed drastically, Kumagai's next words drifted over: "Because the next ball is our service turn again."
Go for it, Subaru!!