Chapter 28 Quarterfinals 2: Targeting Players' Mentality
Before the match, his calves twitched uncontrollably. But when the whistle blew, Sawada Tsunayoshi miraculously calmed down, his breathing became slightly rapid, and he was in a rather excited state.
Recently, both he and Hinata have gotten a bit tanned from training. Their skin tone is different from their previous pale skin, which was due to staying indoors. They look healthier and have a much better complexion.
Shoichi Irie commented that he is more popular now than when they first met.
Coach Suzuki once again failed to get the serve. Coach's luck is really hard to describe. Sawada Tsunayoshi, who always seems to be the unluckiest person in games, felt the same way.
The opposing team probably knew that Fukutani's backcourt reception was still decent, and his serve barely cleared the net, landing to the left of Aoyama Kaede in front of the net. Sawada Tsunayoshi's eyes sharpened, and he bent his knees to squat to the side, swinging the ball to Akaashi Kyoji in position one at the back.
Then, Kujo Ike also cut off the opponent's serve.
The game was unfolding in the exact same direction as the previous match. Sawada Tsunayoshi looked up to observe Kuroo Tetsuro. The tall, black-haired boy was now making good use of his face, putting his arm around the shoulder of the player who had just spiked the ball.
"It's okay, you followed the tactics well."
Tactics? The word lingered in Tsunayoshi's mind.
Was that last shot by Nekoma a tactical play? Before Sawada Tsunayoshi could figure it out, Kujo Ike stepped up to serve, and the whistle interrupted his thoughts.
He quickly came to understand what the coach meant by an impenetrable defense. The Kujo Ike, who had secured four points with his serve yesterday to widen the gap, was quickly figured out by the opposing libero, and the third ball was returned.
As expected, Otoko is different from the previous Ohno Club.
The setter barely moved before sending the ball to the attacker, who spiked it towards Aoyama Kaede, thus ending Kujo Ikeya's service game.
He ran all the way back onto the court, shouting, "That libero on the other side is so awful!"
He shouted loudly, and the free man, of course, heard him. Instead of being annoyed, he nodded and smiled at Kujoike, responding loudly in return.
"Thank you for the compliment!"
Sawada Tsunayoshi and Hyuga Shoyo quickly grabbed their respective ace players, one on each side, to prevent a violent incident from occurring on the court.
"Keep calm, Ike! Even though your opponent's face is full of apologies for receiving your serve but also a very proud expression, you need to stay calm too!"
"Xiao Xiang, you're just adding fuel to the fire!"
Behind them, Kyoji Akaashi had to remind the guys, "The referee is watching you."
Not wanting to be sent off, Kujo Ike immediately behaved himself; he didn't want to go off the field and be disciplined by his father on the spot.
Although he had expected it, Kujo Ike was still somewhat discouraged. He looked dejected and said, "It's such a pity I couldn't get more points."
It was rare to see his senior so pessimistic, so Sawada Tsunayoshi comforted him, "It's okay, at least we tied the score."
Kyoji Akaashi was observing the opposing team. Nekoma clearly had studied Fukutani, as evidenced by their direct approach to Aoyama Kaede on that last shot. They knew which players were bad at receiving the ball and were consciously targeting that weakness.
In the corner of his eye, Matsukawa Saki walked over to Aoyama Kaede and said something. Akaashi Kyoji understood that their conversation was nothing more than handing the ball over to the libero Matsukawa to reduce Aoyama's receiving duties.
Then Kyoji Akaashi shouted, "Now we just need to attack and score!"
On the surface, it was a response to Kujo Ikeya, but it was also meant for Aoyama Kaede.
However, Otoko probably guessed that they would make changes to their defense, and the next ball was not a net ball, but a normal ball.
Matsukawa Saki, who had been on high alert, was momentarily stunned, his reaction a beat slow. He managed to catch the ball with difficulty, watching it soar high into the air.
"Feel sorry!"
Kuroo took a step back at the same time, propped the ball up, and shouted,
"Chance ball".
The opposing team launched another attack. This time, Matsukawa Saki was well-prepared and calmly received the ball. Hyuga flashed forward, and Akaashi Kyoji followed up with a set shot, scoring a point before the opposing team could react.
"Wow." Kuroo whistled.
He walked over to the grinder and said, “When I watched the game last week, I realized that the little guy has a fast reaction speed. It’s still hard for him to react when he’s face to face with his opponent across the net.”
Kozume Kenma frowned, staring at Hyuga who was being rubbed and kneaded by his teammates. He was somewhat puzzled, clearly also shocked by that shot.
"That's right, his reaction speed and jumping ability are both very fast."
He finished speaking and a smile played on his lips, his vertical pupils gleaming with eager anticipation. He then withdrew his gaze, grinding his claws together. "Isn't it interesting?"
"That's really rare; it's grinding with such enthusiasm."
Rather, after watching the last match, this guy was so excited it was like he was about to play a newly released game. Kuroo also looked away; well, anyway, it was a good thing.
"Didn't you already come up with a plan? Why aren't you telling me now?"
“Wait a minute,” Kozume Maki didn’t deny it, “Take care of the other one first.”
He also needs to refine the strategy based on the situation on the field.
Even someone as oblivious as Kojima Shiro could sense that Aoyama Kaede was being targeted; his mind was filled with questions.
Why is Otokoma targeting Aoyama-kun?
Besides the two main attackers, the only other player with the strongest offensive drive in the Okurodani region is probably Kojima himself, the only middle blocker.
Aoyama Kaede smiled wryly, "I don't know either."
If it were that seemingly cunning middle blocker from the opposing team trying to dodge their block, Kojima could understand, but having Aoyama receive the ball is a different story. Even if Matsukawa-senpai isn't on the court right now, Sawada-kun can help them receive the ball, or at the very least, Hinata-kun can.
Sawada Tsunayoshi tilted his head back, his sky-blue hair ribbon revealing his entire face, his large eyes sparkling brightly.
"Don't worry too much, Feng just needs to focus on blocking." The reliable support said.
Hyuga, clinging to Tsuna's back, nodded repeatedly as she listened to his words, "I'll help too."
He is much more qualified as an outside hitter than Kujo Ike, who is also an outside hitter with very obvious weaknesses, such as his poor ball receiving.
Kujo Ike, who overheard the conversation, was also very relieved. Luckily, the opponent wasn't targeting him, otherwise he would have really exploded from constantly receiving the ball.
He shared his final thoughts with Kyoji Akaashi.
Kyoji Akaashi sighed, "Then you should go practice catching the ball properly."
Even with the help of Sawada Tsunayoshi and the others, there will inevitably be times when things go wrong. Aoyama Kaede looked at the score, 8:7, and they went into the technical timeout. He felt a little heavy-hearted as he drank water, because three of those points were lost because of him.
Fortunately, they were still in the lead, otherwise he would have been filled with self-blame and shame.
If it were Kojima, he would definitely be better at receiving the ball than I am. I'm really dragging everyone down.
During the one-minute break, Coach Suzuki could only speak at a faster pace to explain some arrangements. There were no major changes, and there was nothing that could be done about it. Sawada Tsunayoshi and Matsukawa Saki still had to share the burden.
Watching them return to the field once again, Kujou Hayate gripped the mineral water bottle in his hand tightly. "Aoyama was indeed affected after all."
"There's nothing we can do about it, don't be too nervous." Coach Suzuki fanned himself with his tactical board, but after a while, he couldn't help but throw the notebook onto the bench, stand up, and pace back and forth.
"That's infuriating, Onkoma! We didn't get any information from them, but they've figured us out perfectly. I bet they have more tricks up their sleeves!"
Kujou closed her eyes. "You're clearly more nervous than me."
If Sawada Tsunayoshi could occasionally participate in the attack in the last game, today he focused most of his attention on receiving the ball. Sweat quickly soaked his hair, turning his headband a sapphire blue.
Shoichi Irie adjusted his glasses, flipping through the newspaper in his hand and comparing it with the game on the field. "Although everyone thinks that Fukutani is very aggressive, he wasn't as strong in today's game as he was in the previous one. Is he not in good form?"
The ball is spiked, then returned to their court, only to be caught again and spiked back to the opponent's court. Almost every ball goes through this back-and-forth battle.
“Because they can’t score, they start to hesitate and shrink back,” Kozume Kenshin suddenly said.
"Is this why you told us to target that middle blocker of theirs? The others could do it too, their ace's receiving is pretty bad."
The libero replied that he had been with Yinju for so long and still couldn't understand why the outside players received the ball so poorly, since the players around him all had pretty good first passes.
"Ah, you mean that main attacker?" Kozume asked slowly.
"His receiving is not good, but didn't this main attacker also participate in the competition last year? He may have been targeted before. If we try to mess with his mentality, the effect will probably not be very obvious."
Even worse, such hot-blooded fools can have the opposite effect.
Kuroo: "Hmm, that middle blocker is indeed not very emotional. After these few balls, she looks like she's questioning her life."
"Okay, let's continue attacking from his side. His blocking is starting to weaken."
"He said something really devilish in such a calm tone, Mamoru."
"We're in a competition." That's normal.
It would be abnormal for Kozume Kenpaku, a company that adheres to minimalism, to leave its weaknesses unaddressed.
It was indeed the other side that was directing the game, as observed by Kyoji Akaashi. Although the setter who knew Hyuga initially seemed unmotivated, he still appeared exhausted during the match.
But all of Otoko's actions were orchestrated by him.
Kyoji Akaashi's pass wasn't proactive; he simply knew his teammates' preferred attacking positions and delivered the ball to them. Essentially, it was still up to the attackers to decide how to spike the ball.
He originally thought that Yinju's setter was a setter with no offensive capabilities, just like himself. Now that he thinks about it, his initial observation might have been wrong.
Although the attacking player still controls the game, the opposing setter seems to have anticipated the player's choice. He mentally deduced the course of the game and then controlled it, watching the game unfold as he had envisioned.
Looking at the middle attacker who was in a daze after being beaten, Akaashi Kyoji clicked his tongue in rare displeasure. "Won't thinking so much burn out your brain?"
Hearing his setter muttering to himself, Sawada Tsunayoshi felt helpless. "Kyoji, you've been thinking a lot too, haven't you?"
Sawada Tsunayoshi sighed silently as he ran around the court to catch the ball, relieving the pressure on Aoyama Kaede. Although Nekoma's goal was clear and his tactics were very effective, they were not scoring as quickly as in the previous game.
However, Tsuna still felt uneasy, always feeling that what the other side really wanted to deal with was not their middle blocker.
-----------------------
Author's Note: In Tsunayoshi's eyes now: a bad cat, a bad cat.
I saw how much nutrient solution everyone sent! I'm thinking about whether to do some extra chapters. I'll figure out how to do it when I have time. [cat emoji]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
