Practice Match

The coach Takeyuki Yamiji enters the courtroom clutching a stack of paper. He calls all the players to him and starts addressing them, "The Tokyo prefecture tournament is beginning in a month's time. As usual due to the size of Tokyo we will be hosting two teams. All that matters is defeating five teams to qualify for the nationals.

Now I expect you to give your best in the matches, which means a lot more practice for you guys. Yukie here will read out the starting positions."

She stepped out in front of the coach and started reading out, " no.4 wing spiker and captain Kotaro Bokuto"

"Hey Akaashi did you hear that? I am the captain ace. Nobody can stand before me!"

Akaashi replied, "Good for you Bokuto-san, now if you would sit down we can continue with the positions."

Yukie took a deep breath, "Thank you Akaashi-kun, next is no.7 wing spiker Akinori Konoha. No.11 libero Haruki Komi. No.9 substitute spiker Yamato Surukui. No.5 setter and vice-captain Keiji Akaashi. No.3 middle blocker Atsushi Murasakibara and finally substitute setter Shuichi Anahori."

"I can't beleive Bokuto became captain. His ego was high enough as it is." Haruki said.

Konoha replied, "Atleast Akaashi can control him as vice-captain."

They turned to see Bokuto yelling at Akaashi, "As your captain I want you to go ahead and get me some water."

"No" Akaashi replied.

"But I am your captain" he whined.

Akaashi replied, "I am not your secretary, take it by yourself. Also if I hear something about bullying first years then I will have your captaincy revoked."

Bokuto sulked, "fine"

"Akaashi has Bokuto eating out of his hand. I do not want to know what would have happened if he never came to Fukorodani." Haruki said.

Someone tapped on Haruki's shoulder. He turned out to see someone glaring at him, "Did you see my chips?"

He replied nervously, "N-n-no. PLEASE DONT EAT ME!"

"I won't" Saying that, the 2 metre giant left.

Haruki turned around to see Konoha laughing. "Its been two weeks and you are still scared of him"

"Its not my fault. He's so tall compared to me and always glares at people when he talks to them."

"I know but nobody reacts like you do."

***

The Fukurodani team had just entered the Itachiyama Institute for their practice match. Itachiyama were the favourites for the Tokyo qualifiers. They even had a top three ace Kiyoomi Sakusa. They had a strong defense and an even stronger offence.

Their playstyle revolved around making sure the ball stayed up until their strong spikers get the points. Their blocking wasn't the best but they had the ability to work well with the receivers.

Kiyoomi Sakusa was their ace and the pillar of offense. He was a consistent scorer with his skills. With the ability to make nasty spins with his spike and serve, he could easily break recieves or get a block out. This helped him gain the spot of top 3 ace.

Their libero Motoya Komori was the pillar of defense. He wasn't the best libero in nationals but he was still an extremely successful one. His greatest ability is to keep the ball in the air as long as he could get his hands on it.

The captain/setter was the balance between offense and defense. He made sure that his teammates played optimally and always gave their best. He was a key player that made sure that the team functioned.

***

"We are going up against one of the best teams there. We may be good but we are still hurting after we lost so many of the upper years. This is just a practice match so give it your best. Don't be bothered by any points you lose. Akaashi make sure that Bokuto understands it. We don't want him to go and challenge Sakusa for his spot in top 3 ace." The coach explains.

"Yes sir!" the team responds and move onto the court. Itachiyama had already started warming up for the upcoming match.

As both teams started introducing themselves to each other-

"I challenge you Kiyoomi! Accept that I am better than you!" Bokuto challenged.

Kiyoomi simply ignored him and went back to his side. "I told you to not bother him Bokuto." Akaashi admonishes. Bokuto simply sulkes away.

"Great, the match hasn't even started and Bokuto has gone emo." Haruki exclaims.

***

The match begins with Fukorodani's serve. Bokuto serves but it ends up hitting the net.

"Noooooooo"

"Akaashi do something." Haruki says,"Bokuto is sinking deeper into this mess."

Akaashi replies, "I won't set to him until he gets ready."

Itachiyama serves out getting them their first point.

Murasakibara goes back for his serve. He sends his powerful serve but it goes towards the libero. He gets a shaky receive and their middle blocker pulled of an emergency set to Sakusa. He manages to get a block out of Konoha.

Sakusa goes back to serve. He sends it towards Haruki who tries to get it but goes out due to the insane spin he put on it.

Sakusa gets another ace but luckily Konoha gets a point. The set continues until Murasakibara finally arrives at the front.

Konoha serves towards the end. Itachiyama gets it and their captain goes for a quick. As soon as the ball left his hand Murasakibara follows immiediately shutting down the opposing middle blocker.

The set progressed with Murasakibara improving at every point. He gradually increased his speed and jump as he got used to the feeling of the match. Every part of his mind working in tandem to stop the ball. At this point the only one who could get past him was Kiyoomi.

The top 3 ace was able to get past his blocks with feints and dinks. But even he was getting frustrated by his blocking.

Itachiyama finally won 27:25. While Murasakibara was an amazing player, the only other player who could get many points was Bokuto who wasn't playing his best.

Since Murasakibara couldn't play front all the time due to rotation, and Bokuto was in his emo mode they just fell short in points.

AN: updates will be slow.

***

The next set was different. Bokuta was finally becoming interested and read blocking only gets better as time passes. Murasakibara had gotten much better at reading the setter and had already stopped a setter dump. Soon Fukorodani won the second set 25:21.

They played for 4 more sets before leaving. With Bokuto in full swing they managed to win the next two sets. Unfortunately they lost the last two when their players started getting tired.

This match was an eye opener to Fukurodani. They were overly relient on Bokuto for offensive and Murasakibara for defensive. While the players were pretty good, against powerhouses they had a lot of work to do.