Even though things got a bit lively with the match being on TV, what we have to do hasn’t changed. To get to Spring High, we need two more wins. One on Saturday, and one on Sunday.
“But you know, I really think just one match per day is kind of inefficient. If we could have one match in the morning and another in the afternoon, then at least one of our weekend days wouldn’t be completely taken up…”
As usual, while eating the lunch I made together with Hina, I voiced the question that had been bugging me for a while.
Of course, it’s not like we were sneaking food early or anything—it’s lunchtime. For reference, we’re eating not in our own Class 2 classroom, but in Class 4 with Yuki and the others.
Why? Well, after the recent seat shuffle, Hina, Asuka, and I ended up sitting really far apart. Meanwhile, in Class 4, Mirai is seated with Yuki in front of her and Kaori to her right, making it a convenient spot for us to gather.
Even though girls generally take up less space than boys, there’s no way eight girls’ lunches can fit on just three desks. So, we may have “borrowed” a few desks and chairs from nearby and are now all eating lunch together as the volleyball club.
The reason for gathering is simple—we’re using this lunch break to hold a strategy meeting for next weekend’s third round of Spring High qualifiers.
Of course, it’s not like our ideas as students will automatically become club policy, but from Coach Saeki’s perspective, rather than hearing things from us one by one, it’s probably better if we present it as “This is what we think—how does it sound?”
Now, back to the topic. For some reason, the semifinals and finals of the prefectural Spring High qualifiers are held on separate days.
“Spring High Volleyball is the biggest event in high school volleyball, right? So maybe they do one match per day so that the teams who make it to the semis don’t carry over too much fatigue and can play without regrets.”
“If it were two matches in a row without any break, I’d understand, but as long as there’s a rest in between, I don’t see the problem…”
“Not everyone’s a stamina monster like you, Yuuri…”
“Huh? I feel like I was just insulted somehow…”
“It’s a bit different from fatigue, but maybe they want the players to perform their best. The semifinals and finals are held at the same venue, and the flooring there isn’t regular wood—it’s Taraflex.”
“Taraflex??”
“You know how in international or major matches, the floor isn’t plain wood but colorful? That’s the one.”
By the way, I experienced playing on a Taraflex floor during the All-Japan training camp this summer. It’s supposed to absorb more impact and be gentler on your knees than regular flooring. Personally, I didn’t really feel much difference, though.
“Who cares about the floor? It’s not like the rules of volleyball change.”
“It’s not because of the floor, but the rules do change.”
“Wait, what?”
“Whoa, Kaori, seriously? Leave that kind of joke to Ninja.”
“Oh no… I was just insulted again, wasn’t I…?”
“…Could it be that the rule change is that the finals are a best-of-five match instead of best-of-three? Even I remember that much. But rather than talking about whether we’ll make it to the finals, shouldn’t we focus on the semifinals right in front of us? What kind of school is Youkou High? I know they’re a powerhouse when it comes to sports, but are they strong in volleyball too?”
Private Youkou High School
Just like Himesaki, Youkou is a private school that heavily invests in student athletics, and it’s probably the most well-known high school in our prefecture. The reason is simple: they’re regulars at Koshien, the national tournament that decides the top team in the most popular high school sport—boys' baseball. Also, I think one of the sumo wrestlers who won a rare championship as a maegashira last year was a Youkou graduate.
In our prefecture, it’s almost always either Himesaki or Youkou that takes the championship in high school sports.
“They’re the strongest in the prefecture… for the boys’ team, that is. But the girls’ team isn’t weak either. If we’re talking achievements, there are three major events in high school volleyball: Inter-High, the National Sports Festival (Kokutai), and Spring High. Setting aside Kokutai, since it’s a bit special, for the past 10 years we can look at Inter-High (10 times) and Spring High (9 times), so out of 19 prefectural representatives, Himesaki has gone 11 times and Youkou has gone 6.”
That really highlights how amazing Himesaki is, making it over half the time in the past decade. Still, Youkou’s numbers are impressive too.
“Of those six times, they’ve even been national champions once. So yeah, they’ve definitely earned their reputation as a powerhouse. Most recently, three years ago they made it to the national top eight at Spring High. As for their playstyle, it’s straightforward—they target their opponents’ weaknesses.”
“Isn’t that what every team tries to do?”
“It’s a matter of how far they go. They’ll do everything that makes the other team uncomfortable.”
“Is that even possible?”
I think so too. Volleyball has strict limitations on player numbers. It’s not like American football where you can have unlimited player substitutions and completely swap out offense and defense. With limits on both the roster and substitutions, it’s hard to believe they can pull off such varied strategies. And if they’re trying to raise players who can do everything, that’s just another way of saying they’re raising players who are mediocre at everything.
Frankly, that kind of approach seems unrealistic.
“That's what I thought too, but…”
“Then let’s think about what we can figure out. What are our weaknesses?”
“Our defense is shaky.”
“We’re too offense-focused.”
“We play like it’s fine as long as we don’t die.”
“We’re sloppy.”
“Let’s not go with those vague ones. What about something more concrete?”
Hmm…
Our revamped Matsubara Girls’ Volleyball Club strategy, which started before summer break, is all about serve & block.
A powerful serve to go for an ace—or at the very least disrupt their formation—and then shut them down with a solid block. If they send back a high, arcing return that doesn’t clear the block, we spike it down.
That’s our style. Our positions and rotations are based on this strategy.
Last week’s second-round qualifier looked like this:
FL: Tohira Asuka
FC: Murai Reiko
FR: Maejima Mirai
BR: Tachibana Yuuri
BC: Nabekawa Kaori
BL: Tachibana Hina
L (Libero): Arimura Yukiko
→ Reiko or Kaori sub in for back row when needed
Net
-------------------
FL FC FR
BL BC BR
-------------------
End Line
I, with the strongest serve on the team, start us off. Then comes Mirai’s rare overhead drive serve, which throws opponents off. After that it’s Reiko and Asuka, both strong spikers, followed by Hina’s jump floater as the fifth server. Kaori, who finishes the cycle, doesn’t swing fully, but her jump serve is still quite powerful compared to other schools.
…Just to clarify, this lineup assumes we start the match with the serve. If the opponent serves first, our rotation moves one spot forward.
Now, as for our much-talked-about weak defense—well, that’s mostly because I, the second-worst receiver on the team, end up playing the entire match. We could have switched me out with the libero in the back row, but we prioritized offensive power from back attacks instead.
If we were to rank receive skills within the team, it’d probably go something like this:
Yuki ＞＞ Asuka ≧ Reiko ≧ Hina = Mana ≧ Mirai ＞ Me ≧ Kaori
Honestly, Reiko’s rate of improvement is kind of scary. People say all of us in the Matsubara Girls’ Volleyball Club are developing quickly, but I don’t feel it—and watching a monster like Reiko makes that sound like pure flattery. To be honest, I don’t feel like I can beat her in terms of technique.
Reiko is also the anchor of our blocks (with Kaori taking over when Reiko is in the back row). Reiko herself says, “The ace is definitely Yuuri,” but really, Reiko’s amazing too.
“…If we use the same strategy as Saturday, won’t they just keep targeting me, the poor receiver who stays on court the whole time?”
“We’ve played plenty of practice matches against teams like that. Heck, the team we beat on Saturday used that very approach—and we still won, didn’t we?”
“Then—”
＝＝＝＝＝
Point of View Shift
Youkou High School
Third-person Perspective
＝＝＝＝＝
“The Matsubara Girls’ High School we’ll be facing this Saturday is a one-ace team built around Tachibana Yuuri.”
So declares Kaoru Minagawa, coach of Youkou High School.
“It’s not a one-ace team in the sense that the ace leads the team. It’s the kind where the entire team lifts up the ace. In other words, one key to defeating them is figuring out how to prevent the ace from playing volleyball comfortably.”
“So our basic offensive strategy is to target the ace, then? I’ve heard rumors her receives are weak.”
“That probably won’t work. Contrary to what some say, their ace is actually more than capable when it comes to receiving.”
“As expected of our captain. You’re exactly right. Their ace might not be good at returning the ball cleanly to the setter, but she can still get it up in the air. And more than anything, her defensive range is unreal.”
She became an overnight sensation after the recent TV broadcast. A number of videos about her have also popped up online. But the accuracy of that information is a mixed bag.
For instance, there’s a video titled, ‘An Angel Who Put All Her Stats into Charisma Instead of Practicing Despite Being in the Volleyball Club’. That one was just awful.
In the clip, the opposing spiker uses a feint to avoid the block, and although she touches the ball, she fails to lift it properly, becoming the subject of mockery in the video.
But anyone who understands the context can tell how misleading that is.
She had been positioned deep in the court to guard against block-outs. Yet when she noticed the feint, she dashed in with tremendous speed and managed to receive a ball that would have otherwise dropped right at the net.
Her posture during the receive was unbalanced, so it wasn’t an A-pass, but she still returned the ball to the setter. And more importantly—what really defied expectations—was what came next.
She turned that ball into a back attack and sent it right back over the net.
That alone shows her quick reflexes, incredible speed, and a strong core capable of launching a powerful spike even from an awkward position.
None of it seems like something a high school girl could pull off.
“Matsubara Girls’ High has two different playstyles depending on where their ace is positioned on the court. One is ‘offensive mode’ when the ace is in the front row. The other is ‘defensive mode’ when she’s in the back row.”
Coach Minagawa explains the patterns of Matsubara Girls’ High School that she’s analyzed to the team.
‘Offensive mode’ is, as the name suggests, focused on attacking. Despite her small frame, their ace’s spike reach exceeds 350cm—surpassing even that of the boys. She’s got power too, so her spikes are quite strong. That said, it’s not like taking a hit from one will injure you, so as long as you don’t flinch, you can read her course and deal with it.
And when she’s in offensive mode, that’s actually our chance too. Matsubara’s ace has great jumping ability and height in the air, but due to her short stature, she doesn’t line up well with other blockers.
Based on the Inter-High prelims footage, their blocking system has become more organized since then. But precisely because of that, she now can’t match the others' height in group blocks. Maybe they’ve realized this too—last week’s match had her doing solo blocks the entire time.
‘Defensive mode’ is even trickier than it sounds. First, their tall block line sets up at even height. If you get past that, their libero is great at handling hard hits. And then their ace, with her wild court coverage, will chase down loose balls. You can’t score unless you break through all three: the blockers, the libero, and the ace.
Scoring is tough, but on the flip side, their offensive power drops.
Matsubara Girls’ High doesn’t use back attacks very often. Especially when they get a clean A-pass—they never go for a back attack then. If it’s a spike from someone other than the ace, we’ve got a fighting chance.
—Fortunately, our scouting unit managed to record two of their matches last week.
Whether you have advance intel or not makes all the difference in planning strategy.
With their sights set on Spring Nationals for the first time in three years, the Youkou High School Girls’ Volleyball Club quietly burns with determination to take down Matsubara Girls’ High.
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