The referee blew the whistle without hesitation.
The players from Yamarashi Technical Junior High stared blankly, while the spectators on the second floor erupted in thunderous cheers.
"What a powerful serve! It even knocked someone over!"
"Nice one, Number One from Sengoku!"
Whether they understood volleyball or not, everyone was excited at that moment.
Violence is a primal instinct buried deep in our genes.
Even if they didn't understand the sport, just seeing Akashi Asuka knock an opponent down with what seemed like a harmless volleyball was more than enough to trigger a visceral thrill.
"Well done! One more, Number One from Sengoku!"
A few people in the stands began cheering for Akashi Asuka, though it was more of a rowdy commotion than organized support. Akashi ignored it. His true opponents weren't in the audience.
As soon as the whistle blew again, Akashi Asuka served his second ball.
This serve wasn't as clean as the first. His toss was slightly off, which reduced the ball's speed a bit.
The libero from Yamarashi Technical shouted and received the serve.
But Akashi's raw power was formidable. Even a less-than-perfect serve, when received, rebounded upward with a tremendous force, launching the ball over ten meters into the air.
That sky-high first pass gave Yamarashi Technical's setter ample time to react.
But it also gave Sengoku's defense just as much time to prepare.
Yamarashi Technical's first offensive attempt was cleanly blocked by Oomae Masato. The spike was sent right back into Yamarashi Technical's court. The score rose to 2:0.
Yamarashi Technical's ace attacker clicked his tongue, reluctantly glancing at the ball on the ground before turning back to regroup with his teammates.
In the bench area, Shimokawa Mitsuto furrowed his brow slightly.
"Strange. With a start like that from Akashi, the other side's morale should've taken a big hit. So why does Yamarashi Technical look completely unaffected?"
Something about Yamarashi Technical's reaction unsettled Shimokawa, but for now, he couldn't quite figure out their game plan.
Akashi Asuka served for the third time.
Unfortunately, he made a mistake. The ball cleared the net but flew out of bounds.
"No worries, it's fine!"
His teammates came over to reassure him out of habit before quickly resuming the match.
A middle blocker from Sengoku stepped into the service position. As he took his stance, his gaze locked onto a certain player on his own team.
"It's not just powerful serves that score points, after all…"
Recalling their pre-game strategy, he took a deep breath and relaxed before lightly tapping the ball,
This serve was the polar opposite of Akashi Asuka's power jump serve.
It lacked power, lacked spin, and wasn't technically impressive. Its only strength was the unusual placement.
The ball floated slowly over the net, completely devoid of momentum, dropping straight toward the floor.
Right in front of it stood Ryuhei Sanashita, who hurried to receive it,
On the bench, Shimokawa Mitsuto's face changed.
"So that's it. From the very beginning… their target was never Akashi."
The moment he saw the serve aimed directly at Ryuhei Sanashita, Shimokawa immediately understood Yamarashi Technical's plan for this match.
And he realized why they didn't panic even after conceding two points to Akashi Asuka early on.
Yamarashi Technical Junior High had completely given up on countering Akashi Asuka from the start.
Not far away, in Yamarashi Technical's bench area,
The coach smiled faintly after seeing Takahira receive that serve.
After thoroughly studying the footage of Sengoku vs Shinkuuji, he had concluded that with his team's skill level, it was nearly impossible to shut down Sengoku's "ace."
Yamarashi Technical didn't have any genius players.
Their team was made up of ordinary players, no standouts, but with remarkably even skill levels across the board.
A team like that had no strengths, but also no glaring weaknesses.
In short, they were extremely average.
And the defining trait of an average team is this: they can't beat the strong, but the weak can't beat them either.
So if such a team went head-to-head against a "monster" like Akashi Asuka, they'd almost certainly get steamrolled.
But what if they simply didn't fight that monster head-on?
Any ace attacker's performance depends not only on their own skill but also heavily on the quality of the setter's passes.
The stronger the attacker, the higher their expectations for the setter's performance.
After days of analyzing the footage, the Yamarashi Technical coach had determined that even Sengoku's starting setter couldn't fully unlock Akashi's potential.
If that was the case for their main setter, then it was even worse for the backups.
Before it even started, Yamarashi Technical's strategy had been set: ignore Akashi Asuka entirely, and focus all their efforts on shutting down Ryuhei Sanashita, Sengoku's main setter.
If the setter couldn't receive and deliver quality passes, then the "ace" couldn't shine, no matter how powerful he was.
With Takahira forced into a receiving role, Jujiro Kazama had to fill in as setter. But Kazama lacked the skills to coordinate a back-row attack. The ball ended up going to Oomae Masato, who slammed a spike, but the opponents anticipated it perfectly and blocked him cold.
The early advantage evaporated in an instant.
Yamarashi Technical, sensing the momentum shift, pressed the attack. Their next serve also targeted Ryuhei Sanashita. Forced to receive once again, the follow-up attack from Sengoku was overly simple and failed to score.
Instead, Yamarashi Technical launched a counterattack and successfully spiked for a point.
2:3. The lead flipped.
Yamarashi Technical kept up the pressure. This time, thanks to a warning from Takahira, Kazama was able to get in position and receive the serve, completing the pass.
Takahira quickly organized a back-row assault.
Akashi Asuka leapt high from the backline and smashed a spike through the opponent's double block, tying the score.
But the Sengoku players didn't celebrate much.
They all knew, this was just a temporary fix.
Unless they found a way to stop the other team from targeting Ryuhei Sanashita, the rest of this match was going to be just as tough...
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