The Spring Nationals qualifiers have finally reached their final stage.
The set count is 2–2.
The score in the fifth set is 12–14. We’re two points behind.
In volleyball, the fifth set is different from the others. If you don’t consider deuce, reaching 15 points first wins the set. In other words, they’re at match point right now.
And at this extremely tense moment, it’s my turn to serve. I get the urge to just lob it in and play it safe, but if I do that, it’ll likely turn into a lost point for us anyway. The memory of the Tamaki Commercial match from the Inter-High qualifiers flashes through my mind—how we won in the end thanks to a serve error on their part.
Fuuuuuh...
Calm down. This is exactly what routines are for.
Treat practice as seriously as a real game, and think of real games as casually as practice.
I take a deep breath. The whistle blows.
Second step—toss...
Ugh! The toss drifted forward. Still, I can’t just not swing. Since the ball went forward, I can’t transfer as much power from my arms. The serve hits the white tape on the net—
For a second, I thought it was over—match lost on a self-inflicted error—but it just barely rolls over the net.
And that surprise drop-in earns us a point.
13–14.
“Yuu-chan, that was way too stressful on the heart...”
“Hina, don’t be like that. Ninja, nice serve under pressure.”
“Mirai’s right. If it were me, I’d probably have thrown up from nerves...”
“Asuka, if you’re gonna puke, please do it off the court.”
“Ugh... now I’m getting nervous too...”
Just a few seconds before the next serve. My teammates call out to me. Right... now that I think about it, am I nervous?
Now that it’s been said...
No, no—focus on the game.
I go through my routine again and steady my breathing. Second step, toss. This time it’s a floater serve. It goes to a good spot. The opponents’ serve-receive is disrupted, but their first-year setter, who came in from the fifth set, recovers it well.
Where will the attack come from? Their ace is in the back row, but they might use a back attack. Got to be on guard. The setter is in the front row, so that leaves left or center as options.
The middle comes charging in. The toss goes up—but it’s a fake. This is...
Back attack!
Their ace fires off a powerful back attack, but I manage to dig it.
...It was powerful, so the fact that I couldn’t return it perfectly with an A-pass isn’t really on me.
“Cover! Hina!”
Asuka calls out to Hina to cover the ball.
“Yuu-chan, hit it back!”
Hina sends an open toss just ahead of the attack line. That call-out was an order. With the ball's height and position, I take three steps for my approach. I’ll decide where to aim after I jump.
“Back attack! It’s fast!”
Everyone on Himesaki’s side, including their front row, drops into a defensive formation. But it won’t be that easy. Even if they’re set to receive, I’ll break through with no hesitation.
I spike with everything I’ve got. They react—but the ball doesn’t touch anyone. It goes straight in. That makes it 14–14. We’re at deuce. We need two more points to win.
The same goes for them. They must be feeling the pressure too, but there’s no sign of their fighting spirit fading. Honestly, they’ve made things tough to the very end.
For my third serve this rotation, it’s the spike serve—probably what they’re expecting. It heads to a good spot, but they manage to receive it. However, the trajectory is bringing it straight back to our side.
“Chanbo!” (short for “chance ball”)
Asuka calls it out, but there's no need to return it with a textbook three-touch play.
The returning ball is just over 3 meters high. Normally, you'd wait for it to drop and spike it from the ground, but for me, this height is just right.
“Everyone, move!”
I take a run-up, jump from behind the attack line, and meet the ball mid-air at about 3.5 meters up.
And then—
BASH!!
A direct back attack, spiked straight into the opponent's court.
Even they are stunned. Well, yeah—no one usually slams a back attack like that. If someone could, the front row would’ve done it by now.
It’s worth noting—I can do quick attacks from the back. It’s just that the ball doesn’t usually come to the right height for me to pull it off.
(For Hina and Mirai’s sake, let me clarify—it’s not that they never get it there. But to use it in a match, we’d need more practice and better accuracy.)
15–14.
My fourth serve in this rotation, unfortunately, goes out of bounds.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry.”
“Nice serve. That was a bold one.”
“It’s okay, the momentum’s still with us.”
“Alright, now we stop them right here.”
I get encouragement after the miss.
So once again, we’re back to needing two points.
After a while—
Reiko jumps. Her form is so perfect, it could be in a volleyball textbook. And her contact point—especially for a girl—is really high.
Her spike hits the tips of the blocker’s fingers. That was on purpose. The ball, unable to be stopped completely, flies out of bounds on the opponent’s side.
Piiip!
The final whistle blows.
Phew... That match was exhausting—not just because it was five sets. If we’d lost, it would've felt twice as bad.
Spring Nationals Prefectural Final – Girls’ Division
Matsubara Girls’ High School vs. Himesaki High School
16–25
25–20
25–23
14–25
17–15Set Count: 3–2
Matsubara Girls’ High School advances to the All-Japan High School Volleyball Championship
Individual Awards (All selected from third-round qualifiers onward) ※1
Best Spiker
1st: Tachibana Yuuri – Matsubara Girls’ HS, 1st Year
2nd: Tokumoto Masami – Himesaki HS, 1st Year
Best Setter ※2
Nishimura Saori – Himesaki HS, 3rd Year
Best Blocker
1st: Henmi Akari – Himesaki HS, 2nd Year
2nd: Tanabe Ayumi – Himesaki HS, 2nd Year
Best Server
Tachibana Yuuri – Matsubara Girls’ HS, 1st Year
Best Libero
Arimura Yukiko – Matsubara Girls’ HS, 1st Year
Best Six
S – Setter: Nishimura Saori – Himesaki HS, 3rd Year
WS – Wing Spiker: Tachibana Yuuri – Matsubara Girls’ HS, 1st Year
WS – Wing Spiker: Tokumoto Masami – Himesaki HS, 1st Year
WS – Wing Spiker: Kohryogawa Nozomi – Youkou HS, 3rd Year
MB – Middle Blocker: Henmi Akari – Himesaki HS, 2nd Year
MB – Middle Blocker: Murai Reiko – Matsubara Girls’ HS, 1st Year
Most Valuable Player ※3
Tachibana Yuuri – Matsubara Girls’ HS, 1st Year
Notes:
※1
Individual awards aren’t commonly given at the prefectural level in recent tournaments, but this is fiction, so let’s roll with it...
※2
The Best Setter award is typically based on how well the setter delivers tosses that lead to successful spikes.
Normally, a higher spike success rate = good setter for spreading out blockers. But in this story, the protagonist is someone who can spike through blockers.
So, if you went by spike percentage alone, Hina would win, but since that’s due to Yuuri’s strength, not Hina’s skill, both Hina and Mirai were excluded from the selection.
Factually speaking, their technique is still behind Nishimura’s.
※3
Whether she was truly the most skilled is debatable. But when they tried to consider other candidates, Yuuri’s impact was simply too overwhelming to ignore.
She’s more of an MIP (Most Impressive Player) than an MVP (Most Valuable Player), to be honest.
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