Chapter 68: Consecutive Points
Unlike other ordinary servers, Oikawa Toru didn't choose to attack the left and right areas around Hyakuzawa Yudai, mistakenly thinking his reaction speed wasn't fast enough. Instead, he utilized his pinpoint ball control ability.
He accurately used his powerful jump serve to bombard Hyakuzawa Yudai's shoulder area, exploiting Hyakuzawa Yudai's less-than-nimble movements.
Just as Oikawa Toru had predicted, facing his powerful jump serve, Hyakuzawa Yudai couldn't retreat in time to receive the ball. His long arms lost the comprehensive receiving advantage they'd had before.
Instead, because they were too long, he couldn't quickly retract and change his posture, allowing Oikawa Toru's serve to precisely hit his shoulder and bounce out of bounds.
19:16, Aoba Johsai West pulled back one point.
"Nice!"
"Good ball, Oikawa!"
"Oikawa-senpai!!!!"
The teammates' encouragement and female fans' cheers echoed throughout the gymnasium.
Although Hyakuzawa Yudai didn't feel dejected about losing a point due to his receiving error, anyone with eyes could see that the point Oikawa Toru earned wasn't due to luck or anything like that.
Rather, he had genuinely analyzed Hyakuzawa Yudai's receiving weaknesses during his stretching time and carried out a targeted attack against this two-meter giant.
Currently, it seemed Hyakuzawa Yudai might not be able to handle Oikawa Toru's serving attacks, and with Oikawa Toru's ball control ability, making him fault on a serve would probably require quite a bit of luck.
'As expected of Oikawa Toru.'
Ichise Guren on the sidelines also chuckled softly.
Hyakuzawa Yudai's mind on the court was racing, thinking about how he should respond to this powerful server's attacks.
He slowly lifted his hands from below his waist to waist level, learning from the response methods he'd encountered from previous opponents.
'If he attacks my shoulders, I'll change to an overhand receiving stance.'
'But if he sees my posture change, he might also change his attack height, so I can't raise my hands too high.'
'I need to maintain a height where I can go up or down, so I can respond promptly to the enemy's serves.'
Seeing Hyakuzawa Yudai's response, Oikawa Toru just smiled slightly.
"Everything is within my calculations"
An aura of strength emanated from Oikawa Toru. His movements seemed to become abstract in the eyes of the wild Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shoyo.
Another powerful jump serve.
Hyakuzawa Yudai's concentration intensified. His eyes locked onto Oikawa Toru as he jumped into the air, trying hard to observe Oikawa Toru's every move.
The direction of Oikawa Toru's gaze was also precisely captured by Hyakuzawa Yudai.
'He's looking at my feet!'
'As expected, it's going low...'
Seeing Oikawa Toru's gaze in the air, Hyakuzawa Yudai instinctively thought he would indeed change the ball's path. Having attacked his shoulder just now, this time he would attack his feet.
It wasn't until the volleyball flew right in front of Hyakuzawa Yudai that he realized this ball was still aimed at his shoulder area. But perhaps because of Oikawa Toru's eye feint, it didn't hit Hyakuzawa Yudai's shoulder area very precisely, instead flying somewhat out of control toward Hyakuzawa Yudai's face.
Just as the volleyball was about to make intimate contact with his face, Hyakuzawa Yudai's hands barely made it in time, creating an arm shield in front of himself.
He blocked the volleyball that was about to bombard his face, but the time was too short. Being able to raise his arms was already the fastest possible movement - he couldn't form an effective first touch at all.
After being blocked by his arms, the volleyball flew straight up to the second-floor stands, hitting the railing with a crisp metallic sound.
Bang!
The Karasuno members all gasped.
'Hiss!'
'What powerful serving.'
Karasuno 19: Aoba Johsai West 17.
Without any excess words or movements.
But Oikawa Toru's ultra-fast consecutive two-point serving right after entering had beaten the Karasuno players so thoroughly they had no complaints at all.
Although Hyakuzawa Yudai's receiving ability couldn't match libero Hoshino Masaru, who made his living on receiving, or receiving specialist Sawamura Daichi within the team.
He was still a level or two above Tsukishima Kei and Yamaguchi Tadashi. Even during the national middle school tournament, Hyakuzawa Yudai's receiving had never become a weakness for opponents to exploit.
But in his first practice match after entering high school, Hyakuzawa Yudai's receiving ability was being relentlessly targeted, becoming a sweet bug for the opponent's consecutive scoring.
Fortunately, the outwardly simple but inwardly fierce Hyakuzawa Yudai wasn't at all intimidated by the opponent's momentum, but continued thinking of countermeasures.
This time, he directly retreated to a position just in front of the baseline and made a ready stance for underhand receiving. This was equivalent to giving Oikawa Toru a signal.
[You can only attack in front of me. If you continue attacking my upper body, I'll dodge and let your serve go out of bounds]
Oikawa Toru's expression immediately darkened.
'Tch, annoying guy. He figured it out so quickly.'
'I was hoping to score a few more points.'
But Oikawa, standing in the serving area, still didn't hesitate to send out another powerful jump serve.
A light toss - the volleyball spun slowly in the air as Oikawa Toru lowered his center of gravity, took quick forward steps, and executed those footsteps he'd practiced countless times.
One, two, three - his center of gravity was instantly lifted by Oikawa Toru's muscle groups.
His entire body exploded with jumping power completely inconsistent with his refined, handsome image.
At an extremely high point in the air, Oikawa Toru's arm whipped out a strike much faster than before. During the swing, the muscle definition on his arms was clearly visible.
This showed his daily dedication to strength training was absolutely rigorous.
Those muscles, trained through extensive practice, returned to their proper level in this instant.
The volleyball slammed hard into the wooden floor in front of Hyakuzawa Yudai. This serve, a notch faster than the previous ones, successfully scored without being touched.
It was precisely because it was this much faster that Hyakuzawa Yudai, who had originally forced himself to quickly adapt to Oikawa Toru's powerful jump serve, was back to being unable to adapt to the power.
A change-of-pace serve.
This was something only someone with extreme confidence in their own ability would dare to hold back on when serving.
Karasuno 19: Aoba Johsai West 18.
In just three serves, Oikawa Toru had used his own method to help his team recover three points. Just one more point and they could tie the score.