Asahi was still falling when he saw Hank still above the net. Shock immediately appeared on his face. Although he had long heard that Hank's vertical jump was top-class, after seeing it with his own eyes today, he still could not help blurting it out.
Hank was definitely a monster of talent. In terms of jumping ability, there was simply no one who could surpass him!
Bang!
Just as the ball was about to drop and smash into the floor, Nishinoya rolled forward and dug it up. Seeing that the ball had been successfully saved, everyone on Karasuno immediately grew excited. Now was the time to counterattack.
As long as they could succeed with this counterattack, it would count as a strong opening point!
"It was actually received!?"
Coach Irihata was somewhat surprised. He could tell that Karasuno's libero was clearly not ordinary. During this period of time, the other side had improved quite a lot too, and seemed to have already reached a level where he could be selected for the national team.
Without a doubt, his serve-receive ability was absolutely first-rate.
His fundamentals for digging were also extremely solid!
"The surprises are still coming."
Ukai seemed to have predicted Coach Irihata's surprise and spoke with a bit of suspense. The most important thing now was to see how well Karasuno's players could coordinate.
…
"Senpai."
Kageyama stood in front of the net and casually sent out a perfect toss, directly setting the ball to Asahi, who had already begun his approach. Asahi had already prepared himself to drive the ball straight into Aoba Johsai High's court. Seeing this, Ukai, who was sitting on the coach's bench, subconsciously clenched both hands and grew tense.
Bang!!
At the critical moment, Hank jumped straight up from the court and directly blocked the ball that was about to cross the net. In the end, the ball dropped down near the net. As the referee's whistle sounded, Asahi apologized with an embarrassed expression.
Judging by his face, he seemed to have remembered something unpleasant.
"It's all right. Asahi, just go for your spikes. If your ball gets blocked, I'll pick it up for you!"
Nishinoya seemed to guess that Asahi was struggling inside, so he could not help speaking up. From here on, they had to find a way to rotate Hank into the back row. Only then would Hank no longer have the chance to pose such a huge threat to them.
"That's right, and we're here too!"
"We're all one unit. As long as the ball hasn't hit the floor, we haven't lost!"
Tanaka encouraged him. He was straightforward and did not think too deeply about things.
"Okay!"
Asahi nodded heavily, as if accepting everyone's words.
"Since you can receive my spikes, then I'll make the ball land in the back row."
Hank stood outside the court in a sprinting stance. The instant Oikawa tossed the ball up, he immediately rushed toward the net at high speed. Then, using a sideways posture, he struck the ball directly into Karasuno's three-meter line.
Seeing the ball already ricochet up toward the top of the court, the Karasuno players still had not realized what had just happened.
Why had the ball landed directly in the front row, without even giving Nishinoya in the back row a chance to touch it? It was simply unbelievable.
Hinata still looked completely dazed. He had no idea what had just happened. Why had Hank's spike been able to shoot out from the side? To think he could hit a ball at that speed—his physical ability and ball skills had also improved tremendously during this period of time.
It seemed that while they had been improving, the other side had also been improving!
And his rate of improvement was not slow at all. It looked like geniuses truly did exist in this world.
And that genius was Hank, standing right in front of them!
"…As expected of this guy. We haven't seen him for just over a month, and his strength has improved this much again!"
Although Tanaka and Nishinoya did not particularly like Hank, there was one thing they could confirm: his talent and effort were both one in ten thousand.
He was destined to stand on the world stage!
"Don't give up! Even if he's strong, we have our own ways!"
Seeing that Hinata was still spacing out, Kageyama could not help advising him. Then he immediately sent the ball to Tanaka in the back row. On the court right now, they had to focus completely, or the point gap would widen very quickly!
This was not the time to stand around in a daze!
At once, he signaled for the ball to be sent toward Kunimi in the back row. Because Kunimi had always followed the habit of conserving stamina in the first half, targeting him would definitely create a breakthrough point.
…
"This really is fierce. Facing their old rival, Aoba Johsai High, everyone's potential has been drawn out."
Ukai watched the fully focused Karasuno players on the court and could not bear to call a time-out and interrupt them.
(End of Chapter)
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