The match continued with intensity.
Both Newbies and Regular played their heart out. Head coach Irihata was very happy with the boy's performances. He was scribbling in his notebook from the beginning.
The score was-
[Regular 23 - 23 Newbie]
Both of the team were playing neck to neck. No one was giving an inch. The Regulars, after trailing from the beginning of the match, finally caught up to the Newbie's team.
Oikawa stepped up to serve. Oikawa kept spinning the ball in his palm. Then, he stopped spinning the ball and with the ball in his palm, smiled and pointed to Kirito.
Kirito smirked at him.
"Bring it on!" Kirito shouted.
"You asked for it!" Oikawa replied.
Oikawa tossed the ball low into the air, close to his body. He made the approach and jumped. He kept his wrist firm and flat at the contact. There was no follow-through snap.
With his high contact point and slamming the ball with full power, the ball reached to Newbie's court with no topspin or backspin.
The ball wobbled violently. The speed of the ball was very fast, like very fast to the naked eyes.
Due to Oikawa's high contact point in the ball, the ball dipped downwards in an extreme angle.
BOOOM!
No one from Newbie's team could receive the ball.
[Regular 24 - 23 Newbie]
The Regulars reached the match point first.
"What the-, I couldn't see the ball at all!" Kindaichi said in admiration.
"You really are the best!" Kirito thought.
But-
*CLINK*
Kirito adapted to that serve.
The Regulars served.
Oikawa took a deep breath in. Just now, he performed jump float serve. It was his signature serve. But he wasn't feeling confident if he could pull it off again. It was because of Kirito.
From the beginning of the match, Oikawa had been observing every players from Newbie's team. But the interesting and the most dangerous player was Kirito. Oikawa couldn't shake this feeling of slowly sinking into deep trouble.
Oikawa started to observe and read Kirito's playstyle. And, that shocked him. Kirito could adapt to anything. No matter how bad the ball is set to him, he could adapt to it and spike it like a normal play. If the opponent spikes over him, in the next play that attack becomes ineffective. He completely neutralizes that play and freezes/locks the player.
Currently Iwaizumi, Hanamaki and Matsukawa all have been locked up. No matter how many new ways they try to spike, Kirito simply blocks them. No matter how much Oikawa tries to outplay Kirito to set for them, Kirito arrives and locks them.
Oikawa only had one way to defeat Kirito and that was to bring or add new plays. This way, Kirito will take time to adapt to each new plays. Oikawa had to limit Kirito's adaptation window. He had to delay Kirito's adaptation time.
Keeping all his thoughts behind, he tossed the ball very high and forward. He ran and made the approach. He jumped and slammed the ball violently.
Upon contact with the ball, Oikawa snapped his wrist and generated a heavy topspin. The ball deformed violently.
BOOOM!
The ball reached at the front row of Newbie's court heading towards Heisuke Shido. Shido panicked. The ball had raw velocity and steep drop angle.
He rushed forward to receive it, but the ball dropped downward sharply in a steep angle and landed in the court. The ball flew very high into air after landing.
[Regular 25 - 23 Newbie]
The Regulars won the first set.
"Wohoo! How's that newbies?" Oikawa said triumphantly.
Teams switched sides.
Coach Sadayuki Mizoguchi whistled to start the second set.
But, in the second set, Kirito massacred the Regulars.
The score stood- [Regular 10 - 25 Newbie].
Kirito, alone scored 18 points from 25.
The Regulars got locked up by Kirito endlessly. If Kirito was in the back row, he would receive them easily. If he was in the front row, he blocked and locked up the attackers.
Oikawa had this premonition from the beginning. That disgusting feeling of sinking into swamp had come into life in the second set.
He now understood Kirito's playstyle more. It was that, the more a match continues longer, Kirito gets stronger and adapts to everything until he neutralizes every play, serve or spikes.
But above all that, it was Kirito's height, his arm's reach and his destructive spikes. No matter how high the block was, Kirito easily spiked over them by an arm's length. When trying to receive the spike, one couldn't pick up the ball at all. It was very fast and packed with monstrous power.
Although not yet in Ushijima's level, it was reaching there.
"How's that, Regulars! Muahaha" Kirito said sarcastically.
"This brat!" Oikawa shouted.
The coach whistled to start the final and deciding set.
Kirito stepped up to serve. He used a powerful jump serve. The ball was viciously moving towards Hanamaki.
Libero Watari, quickly pushed him aside and used his chest to receive the ball.
"It's up!"
Oikawa immediately ran and set up a Back set. Oikawa used his body in an erratic posture giving an impression of delayed set. From both ends of court Iwaizumi and Matsukawa ran to spike.
Iwaizumi unleashed a ferocious and vicious spike.
BOOOM!
Kindaichi couldn't contain Iwaizumi's spike.
"Yoshaa! Finally!" Iwaizumi shouted venting all his frustration in that spike.
[Regular 1 - 0 Newbie]
The Regulars served.
Hanamaki served with float serve. Kirito who was at the back, easily received it and sent a pass to Yahaba.
Yahaba sent a set to Kindaichi. Kindaichi jumped to spike.
On the other side, Oikawa and Matsukawa set up a double block.
The ball hit Mastukawa's hand.
"One touch!"
Oikawa immediately sprinted and set a precise set to Iwaizumi.
Iwaizumi jumped to spike.
Kindaichi and Yahaba set up a double block.
BOOM!
The ball blasted through the block and landed squarely on the court.
[Regular 2 - 0 Newbie]
"Yes!" Oikawa thought.
In this final set, Oikawa completely avoided Kirito. All the sets he was tossing, were designed and positioned away from Kirito's reach.
Oikawa knew, longer the game drags, the more dangerous and lethal Kirito becomes.
Instead, Oikawa completely avoided Kirito and made plays avoiding Kirito's reach.
Oikawa constantly analyzed Kirito's positioning and patterns to avoid him. If Oikawa wanted to win, this was the least he could do.
The Regulars served.
Hanamki served with jump serve. The ball was heading towards the back row.
Kirito immediately swapped his position with Sawauchi and received the ball. He made a pass to Yahaba.
Yahaba quickly gave the set to Kunimi.
Oikawa and Matsukawa set up a double block.
Kunimi made a approach and swung his arm to spike the ball very hard.
Both, Oikawa and Matsukawa seeing Kunimi's spike, braced themselves to block the ball.
But the anticipated power spike never came, instead Kunimi softly tapped the ball.
"Tip/Dink shot!"
[Regular 2 - 1 Newbie]
Head coach Irihata nodded at Kunimi's play.
The Newbie's served.
The ball flew into the Regular's court. Libero Watari easily received the ball and made a pass to Oikawa.
Oikawa jumped to set the ball. While in the air, he continuously kept an eye on Kirito.
Oikawa's body posture didn't reveal anything about the kind of set he was about to unleash. It looked like he was going to spike himself.
Oikawa saw Iwaizumi make run from the left side, Kirito and Kindaichi immediately set up a double block.
But, the ball went to the opposite side, where Matsukawa was positioned.
Kunimi alone jumped to block, but was not enough to block.
Oikawa purposefully set to Matsukawa to create a mismatch between Kunimi and Matsukawa.
Yahaba sprinted and saved the ball. The ball rose very high into the air.
Kirito ran towards the ball with his back to the net. In an instant, he twisted his back and spiked the ball violently.
BOOOM!
The ball landed cleanly into the Regular's court.
No blocks. The blockers were stunned and were still processing what had happened.
They thought, Kirito was about to set the ball, but it was naïve of them to think Kirito would set the ball.
[Regular 2 - 2 Newbie]
The Newbie's served.
The ball landed in the front row of the Regular's court.
Hanamaki received the ball and passed it to Oikawa. Oikawa set the ball high into the air and simultaneously, everyone from the Regular's team jumped in unison.
Oikawa set the ball for back row. Kaneo Yuda spiked the ball from behind.
Kirito and Kindaichi set up a block.
The ball slammed against Kirito's arm and bounced back into the Regular's court.
[Regular 2 - 3 Newbie]
The match continued until the score was tied again.
[Regular 23 - 23 Newbie]
By now, Kirito, Kindaichi and Kunimi were drained to the last drop. But, the Regulars were fairing much better. They were efficiently managing and conserving their stamina.
The Regulars served.
The ball headed towards the front row.
Kunimi received it and set directly to Kirito in one motion.
Kirito jumped and spiked.
Oikawa and Matsukawa jumped to block.
Boom!
"Cross spike!"
[Regular 23 - 24 Newbie]
The Newbie's served.
The ball went to back row of the Regular's court.
Libero Watari received the ball and sent a pass to Oikawa.
As the ball was going to Oikawa, once again he looked and analyzed Newbie's blockers.
Before Oikawa could set, he gave signal to Iwaizumi, Matsukawa and Hanamaki to make a running approach to spike the ball.
All of them coordinated perfectly and jumped from all sides of the court.
Sawauchi and Shido jumped to block from both sides leaving Iwaizumi open for Kirito to block him alone.
Oikawa seeing his chance, feint the set and dumped the ball.
But, Kirito anticipated the setter's dump beforehand and blocked the ball.
"Block point!"
[Regular 23 - 25 Newbie]
The Newbie's won the set and the match.