The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

Chapter 372 Konan High VS Kyoei Gakuen! (I)

"This should be the first time Konan High lost a set in this tournament, right?"

"No, it is longer than that! This is the first time Konan High lost a set in a year!"

"Really?!"

"Hell, yeah! Even Matsukita failed to do so when they had a chance to face Konan High twice during the last Inter-high!"

"Man, that is so crazy!"

"And all of this is because of that middle blocker? He is still a rookie, right?"

"Hey, don't underestimate him! Hari Haruo was the best middle blocker in the middle school tournament last year! He is bound to be a big player soon!"

"Oh, I remember him too!"

Listening to the crowd singing praises at him, Haruo couldn't help but let out a smug smirk unconsciously. While this wasn't the first time he was under the limelight, it was always good to know that all eyes were on him, especially because he just did something amazing like shutting down both Lucas Silva Morais and Matsumoto, the two best hitters in the country during the first set.

Well, the term 'shutting down' was a bit too stretched here. Those two were the best hitters in the country, so it was impossible to prevent them from scoring all the time. However, Haruo managed to limit them both to have less than 10 points for each, with he himself managed to contribute about 6 points from blocking those two alone.

This was the first time anyone managed to shut down those two in a year, so of course, all the scouts who originally wanted to watch Konan High would turn their attention to him.

"Stop being a loony like that, Haruo! That is unbecoming for you!" Ito, the team's captain suddenly sent a weak karate chop to wake the blocker up from his daydreaming.

"Ouch! What the hell, Captain?!" Haruo grumbled, fixing the hair messed by his senpai. "Let me enjoy this moment for a second, will you?" Grunted the blonde boy.

BAM!

"Oh, shit!" Haruo cursed, taken aback at the ball that suddenly appeared in front of his face. "Sorry, Aki-senpai, cover it for me!"

Aki, the team's defensive specialist rushed quickly, his eyes kept tracking the ball. Unfortunately, while he was quick enough to recover the play, he was a bit too far from the court and couldn't pass the ball accurately for his teammates to initiate a counterattack, which as a result, Nitta had to send the ball back to Konan's side for the final touch.

"Oh! Chance ball!"

"Shimada-senpai, send it high!"

All the Kyoei Gakuen players tensed immediately when they heard Sawada, Konan's setter, shout, asking for the ball. Even though they won the first set, it was mostly because Haruo managed to read Sawada's intention just in time in most of the plays. They still admitted that Sawada was a big threat that Kyoei needed to solve soon.

As the ball was flying toward the setter, Matsumoto and Lucas moved in unison, both trying to spread Kyoei's blockers thin. They did a good job, with Nitta attracted to the left to stare at Konan's captain while Ito was forced to guard Konan's ace. However, those two didn't panic even with the opponent they had to face, knowing that Haruo's support was always on time. This was one of the reasons why they managed to snatch the first set.

Unfortunately, this time, Sawada played a different game here.

Instead of tossing the ball to his teammates, the first-year setter twisted his body in the air so that he could face the opponent's court. Before anyone could react, he swung his left hand in a way that the power generated from his body was enough to spike the ball forcefully into the opponent's area.

As a result...

BAM!

The ball flew straight in the joint area between the middle back and left back without anyone able to stop or even touch it, resulting in the first point for Konan High in the second set.

Konan High 1 – 0 Kyoei Gakuen