The referee whistled loudly, signaling for the start of the Finals match of the Miyagi Prefectural Middle School Tournament.
The teams in the Finals were: Izumitate Junior High vs Kitagawa Daiichi Junior High.
The match format will be played with the best of 3 sets.
Izumitate lineup:
Front row: Outside Hitter Yuki Takahashi, Middle Blocker Kira Izumi, Outside Hitter Haruto Suzuki
Back row: Outside Hitter Kirito Yagami, Middle Blocker Ren Ito(Libero Kenji Yamada), Setter Sato Kaito
Kitagawa Daiichi will serve first.
Kageyama stepped up to serve first. He glanced at every player of Izumitate Junior High. Finally, his gaze landed on Kirito.
He had heard rumors about a strong spiker present in that team.
"So, that must be him." Kageyama thought.
Then, threw the ball very high up and with strong strides he jumped with all his might.
*screech*
At mid-air, he coiled back and used all the force to hit the ball.
BOOOM!
The ball landed squarely on the front row of Izumitate. Neither Kira nor Haruto were able to receive them.
[Izumitate 0 - 1 Kitagawa Daiichi]
"What kind of serve was that?!" Kira muttered.
"Couldn't see the ball at all." he added.
"I guess this is what the previous opponents felt before when facing Kirito's serve." Haruto said.
"Now it looks like it will haunt us." he added.
"Don't mind, don't mind." Kirito said from behind.
Kageyama stepped up to serve.
Again, methodically used the same running approach and smashed the ball with full force.
BOOM!
The ball landed on the right side of the court towards Haruto. He went to receive it but as his arm came in contact to the ball, it bounced off his arm and went out of the court.
"Touch out."
[Izumitate 0 - 2 Kitagawa Daiichi]
"Damn it!" Haruto said frustratingly.
"We'll get the next point." Kirito assured.
Kageyama frowned upon to listening that. He will not give any chance to let the opponent score on them. With that in mind, he went to serve his third serve of the day.
BOOM!
It landed towards Yuki, whose reception skill was poor.
"Touch out."
[Izumitate 0 - 3 Kitagawa Daiichi]
"Sorry!" Yuki clicked his tongue annoyingly.
On the other side, Kunimi and Kindaichi just yawned at them.
"Feels like déjà vu." Kunimi yawned.
"Yeah, totally." Kindaichi replied.
"And here, I thought there was a super spiker on the other side." he added.
"But, His Highness sure is ruthlessly annihilating them." Kindaichi said.
They both glanced behind and saw Kageyama was fully locked in.
The referee whistled again to continue the match.
Kageyama this time served towards back row of Izumitate between Ren and Sato.
Both Ren and Sato couldn't see the ball.
Kageyama scored.
"Direct ace point."
[Izumitate 0 - 4 Kitagawa Daiichi]
"Damn it, I can't see the ball properly." Ren said.
"Yeah, the ball's speed is too fast to try to receive." Sato added.
The match continued.
Then, Kageyama scored directly from serving for the next two points.
[Izumitate 0 - 6 Kitagawa Daiichi]
Kirito upon seeing the team's morale depleting, he called for a time-out.
As Kirito's team reached towards their bench, they discussed over how to stop the assault.
"Let's swap Ren for Kenji(libero) for now." Kirito said.
"Kageyama is targeting who are weak in receiving." everyone was listening carefully.
"Although, our strategy was to give full assault from the beginning, we are loosing too many points from the beginning." Kirito said.
"So, for now Kenji will come in and play until we stabilize." Kirito finished.
"Sorry, Kirito." Ren said.
"Hmm? No need for that, Ren." Kirito said softly.
"They are a strong team and obviously will target the weaker ones." Kirito said.
"No need to be ashamed or feel sorry about that." Kirito added.
"Instead feel happy that they are targeting you, because you are in their radar and wants to get rid of you." Kirito finished.
"Thanks." Ren smiled.
The referee whistled signaling to continue the match.
Players of Izumitate Junior High and Kitagawa Daiichi Junior High returned back to court.
Ren seating at the bench, watched his team anxiously.
Kageyama served for the seventh time, this time targeting Kirito.
Kirito saw Kageyama's gaze on him and offered a smile. Kirito went ahead and received it. After 6 points, finally, the ball was being received. Kirito send the ball to Sato.
Sato looked back at him and set the ball to Kirito.
Kirito ran from the left side of court, his strides getting more powerful along the steps and sprang up like a spring.
"He's coming." Kunimi, Kindaichi, and Kageyama, all three blockers immediately set up a block.
In mid-air, he arched back into a beautiful posture and hit the ball with full raw force that he had been panting from the beginning of the match.
BOOOM!
The volleyball blasted over the block without any resistance, slamming directly into Kitagawa Daiichi court.
"Spike over the block!"
[Izumitate 1 - 6 Kitagawa Daiichi]
Ren substituted for Kenji at the back row.
Sato stepped up to serve and served a float serve. The ball was heading towards back row of opponent's court. Kitagawa Daiichi's libero was quick to pick up and passed the ball to Kageyama. Kageyama quickly analyzed Izumitate player's positioning and set the ball.
Both Kunimi and Kindaichi made the run and jumped simultaneously.
Kirito, Kira and Yuki set up a triple block.
The ball sailed past Kindaichi's arm and went to Kunimi. Izumitate's player fell for the trap.
But as their hope was fading, a hand suddenly re-appeared infront of Kunimi. Kunimi hit the ball but was already too late.
Boom!
Smack!
The ball deflected back in to Kitagawa Daiichi's court. Nobody was there to pick it up. The ball deflected too fast.
[Izumitate 2 - 6 Kitagawa Daiichi]
"Block point!"
Kirito scored with a block.
"YES!" Kirito shouted. All the team member came to give high five.
When the ball was set, Kirito didn't jump too high. So, he quickly came down and sprang up to block Kunimi.
"HEY! Atleast put some force behind the spike!" Kageyama shouted.
"At this rate, we'll lose!" he continued.
"You could've scored that easily if you had put force into it." he added.
"Um, aren't we in the lead?" Kunimi said lazily.
"Yeah, why put too much effort when we are in the lead." Kindaichi said.
Kageyama shot them warning. "Take it seriously, idiots."
"Hey, hey who are you calling an idiot?" Kindaichi shot back.
Both Kindaichi and Kageyama started to argue and quarrel until the referee gave them warning.
The coach of Kitagawa Daiichi seeing this frowned but let them settled this matter themselves.