Chapter 11: Kitagawa's Counterattack
The current score on the court was Yukigaoka 6:0 Kitagawa Daiichi.
"So strong! Daichi-senpai! That Yukigaoka number 1's serves and spikes are really impressive!"
Tanaka Ryunosuke, who had originally been leaning on the railing with his arms crossed, once again acted as the mood maker, being the first to talk about Ichise Guren's spike and the previous four powerful jump serves.
Sugawara Koshi also nodded, frowning as he began thinking about what to do when they faced this player next year.
"Yeah! That timeout didn't disrupt his hot streak at all—instead he kept scoring. This kind of opponent would be really troublesome to think about."
Sawamura Daichi rested his chin on his hand, watching the match below with focused attention.
"Having no service errors is indeed impressive, but this also creates a situation where you overstimulate the defensive players' nerves all at once."
"For example, originally getting 3 points, then rotating serves. Then getting another 3 points, then rotating. Next time might get another 3 points."
"But this kind of getting 5 points at once can make defensive players adapt to this serving intensity faster."
"Although getting 5 points at once has more momentum advantage, getting 3 points consecutively feels more solid."
Looking at Sawamura Daichi who had started analyzing frantically in front of them, both Sugawara Koshi and Tanaka Ryunosuke looked shocked.
"Daichi! What's wrong with you?"
"Daichi-senpai! Are you okay? This isn't like you!"
Sawamura Daichi, whose train of thought had been interrupted, scratched his head with slight embarrassment and smiled.
"Well, I just saw you guys discussing so seriously, so I got caught up in it too."
"No matter what! And no matter who our opponents are next year! We have to play our own game well!"
The serious expression on Sugawara Koshi's face and the determination revealed in his eyes.
This enthusiasm also infected Sawamura Daichi, who would be a third-year, and Tanaka Ryunosuke, who would be a second-year.
"Yoshi! After watching this, let's go back and do a hundred spike drills!"
Tanaka Ryunosuke rolled up his sleeves and shouted loudly.
"Alright, alright, keep it down, don't disturb their match."
"Oh oh!"
On the court, the match between Kitagawa Daiichi and Yukigaoka didn't stop because of Ichise Guren's spike.
None of the players fully focused on the match noticed the three Karasuno members on the second-floor stands.
That spike scored through tactical coordination meant the serve was still with Yukigaoka.
But Ichise Guren's powerful jump serve went out of bounds—perhaps because using the back-row attack had disrupted his serving rhythm.
But it didn't matter.
The score had reached Yukigaoka 6:1 Kitagawa Daiichi.
With a five-point lead, even in a point-trading battle, Ichise Guren was confident he wouldn't lose to the opponents.
However, volleyball was ultimately a six-person game.
Hinata Shoyo and Hyakuzawa Yudai, lacking experience, might be able to compensate somewhat with their powerful athletic ability and height.
But the three first-years, although they had been executing Ichise Guren's tactical instructions well so far.
The fundamental skills and stamina trained over three years couldn't be caught up to in just three months.
At this point, the serve rotated to the opponents, and Kitagawa's number 4 began serving.
Kitagawa's number 4 had small eyes and thick lips, looking like an honest, simple boy.
But when he served, he was completely the opposite—cunning as anything.
Although it was a standing serve, this serve was both fast and accurate.
He calculated Yukigaoka's back-row Mori's forward running path.
Forcing Mori to complete a first touch while running, using an incomplete receiving posture.
After completing the first touch, Mori had already lost his usefulness—after all, his position was setter.
Under volleyball rules where continuous ball contact wasn't allowed, he could only make the third touch.
And for the third touch, both Hyakuzawa Yudai and Ichise Guren had much more destructive power than Mori.
So in that split second, Mori chose to return to the back row.
Ichise Guren, catching this scene, nodded internally.
Mori was indeed quick-thinking; positioning him as setter was definitely a good decision.
Ichise Guren didn't hesitate either, attempting to use an underhand pass to loft the volleyball high.
He believed that even if the quality wasn't high, as long as the ball flew high enough, Hyakuzawa Yudai might not kill this ball 100% of the time.
But he would definitely be able to cause damage to the opposing formation.
Unfortunately, compared to his own offensive techniques.
Without badge bonuses and with the least training time, his receiving and digging were sufficient, but wanting to deliver a set, especially when the first touch quality was poor.
It was a bit too difficult.
The volleyball flew directly over the net, causing the opponents to shout: "Chance ball!! Chance ball!!"
Kageyama Tobio didn't waste Ichise Guren's poor ball.
He immediately jumped up, facing the blocks of Hyakuzawa Yudai and Suzuki, and delivered a very spectacular cross-court spike.
He attacked the defensive gap formed when Ichise Guren tried to force a set and failed.
Direct point!
"Nice ball!"
Kageyama Tobio, rarely shouting loudly, seemed to want to vent all the anger from being suppressed earlier.
After shouting, he glared at Ichise Guren with fury.
His eyes conveyed a message.
'I've found your weakness!'
Ichise Guren wasn't to be outdone, responding with a playful smile and staring right back.
'Then come and try!'
The score became 6:2.
Kitagawa Daiichi's coach, while clapping and shouting:
"Nice ball! Stay calm! Let's use our serving game to get all those points back!"
On the other side of the net, Ichise Guren also encouraged his teammates.
"Sorry, sorry, everyone's coordination was great earlier, but I broke the momentum. Looks like you guys are more reliable than me."
Mori was the first to respond to Ichise Guren.
"Not at all! Ichise-senpai's serves got five points! That was the most amazing serving performance I've ever seen."
"And! Without Ichise-senpai's guidance, my blocking probably would have been destroyed by the opponent's tall player too."
Hinata Shoyo also stepped forward: "Exactly! That serve was so cool! Damn it! Ichise! You have to teach me how to serve like that later!"
After saying this, he even imitated Ichise Guren's jump serve posture at his position, making sound effects with his mouth.
"Bam! Whoosh! Bang bang!"
"So cool!"
Hinata Shoyo's action made everyone on Yukigaoka laugh involuntarily.
"What! Hinata-senpai's imitation is pretty good."
"But don't use it in the match—I'm really afraid of getting hit in the back of the head."
After getting familiar with the volleyball club members, the gradually loosening up players also started joking around at their positions.
Although it wasn't a timeout and they weren't gathered together.
The Yukigaoka volleyball club, despite being in defensive positions and still chatting, was filled with continuous laughter.
This laughter made every Kitagawa Daiichi player's veins bulge.
'This is a match! What are you laughing about! What do you take us for!'
The number 4 server, watching Yukigaoka's cheerful laughter, felt a sense of 'who are you looking down on?'
'Laugh! I want to see if you can still laugh after this ball!'
Accompanied by the referee's countdown and the opposing team's laughter, the number 4 player quickly delivered another fast, accurate, and stable serve.
The ball path was very clear—he wanted Yukigaoka's setter to receive the ball and complete the first touch.
Mori, whose running pattern had been read, was quite helpless—after all, this was an accumulation of experience.
Fortunately, he was prepared to complete the first touch for this ball, so the quality of the first touch wasn't too bad.
Ichise Guren also unceremoniously took on the role of temporary setter.
Because compared to his other teammates—a libero, two rookies with no passing training, and two attackers with completely insufficient passing training.
It was better to trust the chemistry between himself and Hyakuzawa Yudai.
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