The Birth of A Volleyball Legend

In the next couple of minutes, the two teams went back and forth, trying their best to gain an advantage against each other. While Sena's presence on Kikugawa's side managed to solidify the team's defense, they also started to get frustrated since Tsunemori High suddenly pulled their classic strategy, defending the ball with their lives. Now, both teams had a hard time scoring even one point, and although twenty-five minutes had passed since the third set began, the score was still far from the final one, with Tsunemori High still in the lead by two points.

However, one thing was clear here, though, was the fact that almost all the players here were already in front of the death door.

On Tsunemori's side, Yuki and Riku who were the key players of the team were on the verge of collapse already since they both had been doing everything on the court. For Yuki, besides having to bear the pressure to score whenever he was on the service line, the glasses boy also had to take the command on the back row, and sometimes, he also had to join the attack due to Riku's request. Although he had already reduced the intensity of going forward, the boy still couldn't help it, especially when he saw his teammates struggling to break through the opponent's wall. As for Riku, his task was even more outrageous. Even though on paper, it was just to set up the team's offense, things weren't as simple as that. He also had to run all over the court since the team's concentration just hit an all-time low and their receive became sloppy to the point that he had to cover all the bad passes coming at him.

As for Kikugawa's side, it was Kaito who showed his decline state first. After all, the boy would always be the first one to jump whenever Ayane had the ball, not caring whether he would receive a pass or just end up as bait. Not only that, on several occasions where he outlasted the opponent's blockers in the air, it wasn't easy for him to do that. Even though he looked nonchalant, all the jumps he did really put pressure on his knees, and if someone looked at him carefully, they would notice that he couldn't jump as high as earlier in the game. Coupled with how some of the Tsunemori players still targeting him, it was a no-brainer for the boy to have his stamina depleted first.

However, it was clear that in this situation, Tsunemori High had the advantage here. After all, this was something that they wanted in the first place, dragging the game into an endurance battle. Although the stamina of all the Tsunemori players on the court wasn't that much compared to what Kikugawa High players had, from the psychological perspective, they were far more than ready for this kind of situation. This wasn't their first rodeo, and even though right now, they all wanted to vomit on the spot, they wouldn't stop running until the last ball dropped. This kind of mentality was the reason why they still had the advantage in the game.

Of course, even though the players were the main characters here, the focus wasn't on them all the time. The rivalry between the two head coaches as a master and disciple also attracted people's attention, and now, everyone also had their eyes on the two old men on the bench.

"Come on, Yusuke! I have already given you enough rest time! If you don't want to be replaced with Sena, start moving your ass!"

"Yes, Sensei!"

BAM!

"Okay! Good receive, Kai! Help Yuki share the burden on the back! Also, Koji, stop watching the ball stupidly like that! If you cannot help on the back, at least go forward and put more pressure on the front line!"

The two tacticians kept shouting from behind the sideline, arranging and instructing their players on the spot. They took this move after realizing that they lost their timeout right already and had to find another way to instruct the players on the court. The referee who stood in the special box behind the net could only shake helplessly, not knowing what to do. After all, this situation was a bit unusual, and even though he wanted to reprimand the two coaches, they didn't do anything excessive like provoking each other. In the end, knowing the stake of this game, the referee just shook his head and turned blind eyes toward their antic.

The supporters also started to get restless on the stand. If before, they still thought of mocking the opponent's players, now that it was a clutch situation, the only thing they had in mind was to support their own team.

"Come on, Yuki! Get up!"

"You can do this!"

"Kaito, keep moving! The game is ours!"

"Man, the supporters don't really know our struggle here, huh?" Riku smiled weakly, holding his knees as he tried to steady his breath. "You okay, Yuki?"

"No, not really." Next to him, Yuki shook his head, wiping the sweat on his face with the corner of his jersey. "I can only do this for at least fifteen or twenty minutes more. After that, I will collapse on the spot." He gave an honest opinion about his current condition.

"Oh, well, that means we have to end this game quicker, right?"

The score was still 19 – 17 for Tsunemori's lead, and two points weren't that much in this situation. All the players of Tsunemori High still had to be wary since they knew that their opponent would never give up in this kind of situation.

Currently, it was Kikugawa's turn to serve, and Tachibana was there to do the job. He took a deep breath, trying to maintain his calmness on the service spot. Right after the referee blew the whistle, he threw the ball shortly before sending it toward Riku's side.

Thud!

Even though the service wasn't that powerful, Tachibana caught Tsunemori's players slacking off there, a few seconds too late to protect Riku. As a result, the setter had to catch the first ball, which prevented him from setting up the attack next.

"Shit!" Yuki cursed after realizing that. "Senpai, move away!" He yelled at Koji, trying to take over the ball.

All the Kikugawa players were ecstatic when they saw that, knowing full well that Yuki was in front of the death door already. However, they didn't expect that the glasses boy could still force his body to kneel so low that he could give an overhead pass and send the ball accurately to the front line where Riku who had just received the ball a moment ago was there already.

"Oh, shit!"

BAM!

Even though Yusuke and Tachibana reacted together, they both were too late to anticipate the quick attack. As a result, the ball slid through their defense, falling on the floor to add one more point for Tsunemori High.

Tsunemori High (1) 20 – 17 (1) Kikugawa High