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Youkou High School Side
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There’s a phrase in Japanese: Hangan-biiki — rooting for the underdog.
In a narrow sense, it refers to the tendency to sympathize with Yoshitsune, a brilliant general who met a tragic end, to the point of losing objectivity and siding with him emotionally. More broadly, it reflects a distinctively Japanese sentiment — to sympathize with and support those in weaker positions.
In history, beyond Yoshitsune, there’s the Sanada father and son who fought valiantly against the overwhelming Tokugawa forces at the end of the Sengoku period. The Akō rōshi, who spent a year lying low to avenge their lord and stormed Kira’s mansion. Saigō Takamori, one of the Three Great Nobles of the Meiji Restoration, who was ultimately betrayed by the times. All of them evoke this sentiment.
Even in modern times, when watching a sports match, there’s a natural urge to root for the losing team.
Up until now, the Youkou High School girls’ volleyball team has mostly been on the side of being rooted for.
In our prefecture, Himesaki High School stands tall as the reigning champion. Not a few of our players had once tried out for Himesaki’s entrance selection back in junior high — and failed.
The challenger, Youkou, facing off against the powerful reigning champions of Himesaki. The underdogs taking on the prodigies through sheer effort. It’s like something out of a manga or drama. That’s why people root for us.
But today, the roles are reversed.
Our opponent is a completely ordinary public high school — if anything, the academic type. Last year, they were knocked out in the first round of the Spring High prelims.
Then out of nowhere, a genius spiker appeared and transformed them into one of the top schools in the prefecture — a real manga-like story. They’ve even been on TV, so today, a lot of the crowd is probably here just to see the other team.
Today, we are the ones playing the “villain.”
“But there’s no reason for us to cater to the crowd’s expectations.”
Just before the start of the second semifinal match, the Youkou coach spoke resolutely to the assembled players.
The one leading, guiding, and shaping the Youkou High School girls’ volleyball team is Minagawa (née Hanada) Kaoru — a graduate of Himesaki and one of the founding members of its golden era.
Roughly twenty years ago, when Himesaki High School’s girls’ volleyball team first won the Inter-High, she was just a freshman. But at the time, she wasn’t on the court, not even on the bench — she wasn’t even at the venue.
Back then, due to strong backing from the school, Himesaki actively scouted top junior high players from all over the country. That year’s roster included girls from as far north as Akita and as far south as Kumamoto, and the team had nearly 100 members.
Amid all that, she got in through the general entrance exam. As a first-year, she couldn’t even train with the first team — she was in the third string and not allowed anywhere near them.
But in her second year, she caught up. By fall, she’d made the bench, and as a third-year, she was a regular player and helped the team achieve its third consecutive Inter-High title.
That’s why, even though she became an elite volleyball player — winning the Inter-High, performing well enough in college, and even drawing attention from corporate teams — her roots remained firmly grounded.
She has talent, no doubt. And yes, there are walls that can’t be overcome. But that’s no excuse to give up on effort.
Standing before Minagawa’s Youkou team today is a group of geniuses masquerading as underdogs.
A school that used to be a no-name, with most of its players having little volleyball experience, yet now one of the top contenders in the prefecture.
A school so small that they don’t even have enough members to hit the registration cap of 12 + 2 — not even 10.
That’s Matsubara Girls’ High School.
But one thing is undeniable—
“As I always say: You girls practiced more than they did. You worked harder than they did. Hard work doesn’t always pay off. But I want to believe it can. So go show them what that looks like.”
They practiced more than Matsubara. More than Himesaki. That’s what fuels them.
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Perspective Change
POV: Tachibana Yuuri
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“Serve. It’s from their side.”
Just before the match against Youkou High began, Asuka returned to the bench and reported to Coach Saeki (formerly known as Saeki-sensei).
“I see. Alright. Just stick to what we always do. You can’t suddenly pull off something in a real match that you never practiced. Do what you can do with everything you’ve got. Don’t be afraid to mess up. Call out. That’s all.”
That familiar phrase of Coach Saeki’s — “You can’t do what you didn’t practice” — is practically her catchphrase. In short, it means “just do what you always do.”
“Alright! Time to get revenge for summer!”
That rather intense comment came from Mirai. Apparently, during the summer’s Inter-High prelims, Matsubara’s girls’ basketball team lost to Youkou. As the saying goes: “Settling a score from Edo in Nagasaki.”
“Yeah! Don’t lose to Youkou, alright?”
That added push came from Coach Uesugi (formerly Uesugi-sensei). He has a bit of a grudge, it seems — back when he was a high school baseball player at a public school in this prefecture, Youkou’s baseball team gave him a tough time. I mean, come on…
And thus began the match against Youkou High. Our starting lineup is the same as the second prelims:
FL: Murai Reiko
FC: Maejima Mirai
FR: Tachibana Yuuri
BR: Nabekawa Kaori (Arimura Yukiko)
BC: Tachibana Hina
BL: Tohira Asuka
Net
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FL FC FR
BL BC BR
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End Line
Alright, let’s see what kind of serve they’re starting with…
!!
With the sound of the whistle, Youkou’s server hit a spike serve right off the bat. What the heck!? They didn’t show anything like that during the second prelims!
“Ah… my bad…”
“Don’t worry about it, don’t worry. But Mirai, I think you could’ve picked that one up.”
Mirai was caught off guard and failed the serve receive — more than the power, it was the surprise from the unexpected move. The ball hit her arm and dropped to the floor before anyone could follow up.
First point goes to them, 0–1.
The next serve…
So, why are spike serves rare in girls’ high school volleyball? Because they’re hard to control, and compared to boys, girls generally don’t have the raw power to make it a killer shot.
Of course, there are exceptions — I mean, not me, but someone like Reiko, who can generate real force. But that’s rare.
Unless you're a girl with pro-level ability, most high school players don’t have enough firepower to make spike serves effective.
And they’re really hard to control.
Think about it — it’s easier to control a ball when you throw it with a bit of restraint than when you go full force.
A spike serve is a tricky serve where you’re hitting the ball with full power but also need precision.
And why did I just go on about all this? Because Youkou’s server’s second serve hit the net and gave us the point.
Now it’s 1–1.
Well, yeah. Spike serves are hard to control.
Judging from how they didn’t use them in the second prelims, they probably don’t normally serve like that.
So… why bust it out in an actual match all of a sudden???
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Perspective Change
Youkou High School Side
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Matsubara Girls’ High School Countermeasure No. 1: When their ace is in the front row, return the ball to their court with a hard spike, even if it’s a bit of a stretch.
In general volleyball wisdom, there’s no need to go out of your way to return the ball with power. That’s because in volleyball, failure equals an immediate point lost.
So it’s better to play it safe and lob the ball gently but securely into the opponent’s court. That way, at the very least, you avoid losing a point, and if you’re lucky, the opponent might make a mistake—leading to a point for your team.
However, when the opponent is Matsubara Girls’ High, especially when the younger Tachibana sister—the ace—is in the front row, that logic doesn’t apply. As expected, their team tends to feed the ball to the ace, and receiving a spike from that petite ace is extremely difficult.
Rather than risk a near-certain loss from her spike, it’s better to hit them with a powerful return ourselves and avoid triggering that spike altogether.
Because of this, some players have been instructed to serve with jump serves.
Coach Minagawa considers all the opposing players to be national-class, but among them, there are three players she’s particularly wary of.
First, of course, is No. 6, the younger Tachibana sister. The key to the match lies in how much pressure they can put on her and how to prevent her from finding her rhythm.
Second is No. 8, Arimura. Compared to this time last year, when she was a third-year in junior high, she’s improved at handling strong attacks. Perhaps due to her short stature, her defensive range is still not what you’d call wide, which is why they didn’t call out to her then, but now Coach regrets not recruiting her via the scouting route, given how well she handles a variety of balls.
Third is No. 3, Murai. Her skill level and physical ability are hard to believe given she’s only been playing for eight months. When she’s in the front row, she exudes a dominant presence in the middle of the court. As both a spiker and a blocker, she’s already at a national level.
Another player worth noting might be No. 7, Tohira, who turned them down when they tried to scout her last year.
Back in junior high, she played more like an opposite hitter, but now she’s also covering receptions. Even with the role change, she remains a solid player.
They had prepared several countermeasures for Matsubara Girls’ High School, but with the limited information they had, the strategies could very well be off.
And in fact, actually facing them, the impression they got was that Matsubara Girls’ High is a much more defensively solid team than they had imagined.
They claim to have poor defense, but volleyball is a team sport. Not everyone has to be a top-class receiver.
First of all, their blocking is solid.
Everyone on the team has impressive jumping ability, and their average block height makes you think their players are in the upper 170 cm range. On top of that, their teamwork is exceptional.
…Their teamwork is so good, in fact, that one particularly short player isn’t incorporated into the block formation and has ended up playing a sort of free-blocker role…
Even so, she’s quick on her feet like a smaller player should be, and she’s great at reacting to loose balls.
Only the libero is particularly strong against hard spikes, but they’re controlling the spike routes with their blocks so that the spikes go toward the libero.
Also, No. 3 Murai and No. 6, the younger Tachibana, are remarkably skilled at hitting difficult balls.
Not just a little off—sometimes the first touch is completely messed up—but as long as the second touch goes up high somewhere within the court, they’ll still manage to spike it like it’s nothing.
Even if their receptions aren’t perfect, the quality of their blocks, which form the first line of defense, is high. And with spikers who are so good at hitting tough balls, their returns often turn into strong attacks.
Their reputation for weak defense probably comes from the high number of points they give up.
However, if you look into it, about one-third of those points come from self-inflicted errors.
It’s hard to judge whether those errors are good or bad.
They’re not just random mistakes. Most of them are aggressive errors—aiming for tough spots, hitting without compromise.
In that sense, the young coach sitting on their bench, who just a few years ago was on the court in a Matsubara Girls’ High School uniform rather than a coaching role, certainly has nerves of steel.
Is she not afraid of giving up points? Or is she more afraid of missing opportunities to score? Come to think of it, her play style back then was also quite aggressive.
Perhaps her vision of volleyball is one where, like her high school self, the players aren’t afraid of making mistakes and play with boldness and bravery.
Still, that monster No. 6’s quick attack is just unfair. Unlike open attacks, with quick attacks, there’s no time to get the receivers in position.
But if you decide to abandon blocking from the start, you’ll have to go without any blocking the entire time No. 6 is in the front row.
That would mean letting even the spikes from players other than the monster No. 6 go through unchallenged.
(I have to find a way to deal with her somehow… and the sooner, the better—preferably during the match itself…)
Coach Minagawa was struggling to come up with a way to counter Tachibana Yuuri, something she hadn’t been able to figure out beforehand and still couldn’t now.
Youkou High School VS Matsubara Girls’ High School
Set 1 – In Progress
Score: 7 – 10
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A slightly unfair discussion of talent and ability
If we put it in easily relatable baseball terms:
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Asuka and Yukiko Class
→ They have the talent to be regular starters at powerhouse schools that regularly make it to Koshien. Even now, they could probably make the bench. But they wouldn’t get drafted. -
Hina, Mirai, Kaori, Mana Class
→ They also have the talent to be regulars at Koshien regulars, but they lack enough experience. -
Reiko Class
→ A star at a powerhouse Koshien school, and by the fall of her third year, she’s expected to be a first-round draft pick by multiple teams. Even now, pros are saying, “We’ll definitely go after her in two years.” -
Youkou High School Girls’ Volleyball Club
→ Their talent and skill level place them among strong regional schools. They’re good enough to qualify for Koshien through one of the reserved entry spots.
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