"The Evening Moon" (Japanese:
Overview[]
Through his experience training with Hinata and Kageyama, Tsukishima is able to block out Atsumu and Osamu's quick. As the game continues, Tsukishima continues to read and follow their opponents leaving the audience impressed with team Karasuno as a whole. Inarizaki uses their first timeout to physically break Karasuno's momentum. Once the game resumes, Kageyama sets the ball higher than usual and Tsukishima manages to spike the ball over the blockers. The score is currently 18-17 still in Inarizaki's favor. However, Coach Ukai has a plan for Hinata once he rotates back onto the court.
Plot[]
Tsukishima shuts down the Miya Twins' quick attack. In the audience stands, Suguru quickly realizes that Tsukishima eliminated Ginjima from Inarizaki's offense options after he made the first touch. This allows Tsukishima to focus his attention to only the right side of the court, but even then, it is still a feat to shut down the quick. Despite Karasuno gaining a point, Yamaguchi laments over the fact that Tsukishima won't always be at the front row to block the quick since Hinata tends to fall for decoys. Just then, Coach Ukai calls Hinata over.
The match continues with Asahi's serve. This time, Atsumu decides to go with a spike from Ginjima instead of the quick attack with Osamu. Tsukishima calmly reads the opponent and successfully puts up a one-touch on Ginjima's spike. The audience have only heard of Karasuno for the first time but are impressed by the teams' capable lineup, except Tanaka. Tanaka is having a rough time as his spike gets blocked but somehow ends up scoring through a lucky block out. Karasuno gets a break as their point difference shrinks down to one. Inarizaki is forced to take a timeout to break the momentum.
The timeout proves to be effective as Asahi messes up his serve after the short break. With the score at 18-16 in favor of Inarizaki, Ginjima takes his serve. Daichi saves it with difficulty while Tsukishima prepares to spike with a run-up. Kageyama sets a high toss that forces Tsukishima to jump to his max height. Tsukishima successfully spikes the ball over Suna, who can't do anything to stop the ball even though he is in-position to block. Noticing a change in Kageyama's play, Atsumu ponders over what happened to Kageyama in the short time since the youth camp.
In the next rotation, Hinata moves to the front row. Everybody, including Hinata's own teammates, thinks that Karasuno will be an easy target now that their good blocker Tsukishima is out. However, Hinata is ready and determined. It turns out that Coach Ukai has a specific plan for Hinata to counteract the twins' quick attack.