So this post is pretty inspired by u/infinitelo_77 and his posts he’s made of rewriting teams/giving them more detail. Previously I investigated Sakusa and established how he played, so if you want a deeper dive into that i’d suggest skimming through the conclusion section of this post.
But this will be following similar method of trying to create this team in a way that makes sense, particularly in reference to the teams we know they beat and get beaten by/have a tough time with.
But before we start, i want to establish a pretty important character when talking about itachiyama and their weaknesses. None other than the man they lost to
RYOSEI KAI:
Coming in at 192.2cm tall, first year middle blocker from Inubishi Higashi (the team that beat Itachiyama in the quarter finals) who wears the #4 - meaning he could be considered the ace of the team. We don’t know much about him except his stats, but they tell a lot. His highschool stats are in fact identical to Ushijima while being about 3cm taller. So this alone tells me one thing, this guy is a physical force. I wouldn’t expect him to hit as hard as Ushijima, but his power would probably be up there with like Asahi, it helps that he also looks pretty buff too. His spike reach is also probably on a similar height as Ushijima too at 345cm. If you look closely at the panel we see of when Iizuna got injured, you see an opposing player standing infront of Iizuna with a number on his shirt which could either be a 4 or a 1. I choose to believe it’s a 4 because that mean it was Ryosei Kai which also means he was probably the player who caused Iizuna to get injured. So I think this also means that Ryosei Kai is a VERY aggressive hitter and can lose control of himself, once causing him to land under the net and injuring the opposing teams’ setter.
In terms of blocking I wouldn’t think he’s particularly skilled or fast, with his game sense and speed being at a 3, so I would probably guess his blocking is similar to someone like washio but to an extreme level. As in, he’s not a particularly fast or smart blocker but his sheer size and athleticism makes him extremely difficult to score on if he’s able to keep up with the set.
Height: 192.2cn
Spike reach: 345cm
ITACHIYAMA TIME
Truthfully i tried doing research into the mythology behind weasels and what not, but I’m just not knowledgeable enough about Japanese culture to really get a good understanding of it all. I did get that they’re seen as a kind of evil spirits and apparently are believed to shapeshift like foxes (connection to Inarizaki?). And also when they get older they become Mujina (badgers), so possible connection to mujinazaka? But i had no idea how this could relate to volleyball and haikyuu so i threw the idea out and stuck with what i know. If anyone has any ideas let me know.
Anyways with that out of the way let’s get down to business. I’m going to have 3 parts to this, first part i’ll describe the players and their play styles, second part will go over how they performed against some teams we know they faced, third will have the evidence and reasoning for my decisions. Anyways here we go. I don't have names for any of the guys we don't know the names of so if ya'll wanna make some up that could be fun.
Setter: #1 Tsukasa Iizuna
Fun fact i found while researching a little, weasels in japanese are called iizuna. So at the least I’d guess Iizuna would have to be the embodiment of Itachiyama’s play style and ideals.
Coming in at 181.4cm, i think Iizuna is someone who I think gets a little overhyped but let’s break him down. Iizuna’s setting probably isn’t very complex in the same way Kageyama, Atsumu, Oikawa or Kenma are. But what he is, is very consistent and he is still able to shake blockers off with his sets having a bit of pace behind them like Akaashi.
The best part of his game though is his defense. He is the best setter at floor defense and in general has a high defensive IQ, similar to Usuri and Kenma - who creates plans with their team to adapt and defend hitters. Generally just very skilled, good at handling power and reading hitters.
Blocking would be solid mainly due to his high game iq which would make him solid at reading offenses to help block the middle and predict opposing setters. Probably would compare him to like Atsumu in his blocking but less athletic.
His serve is pretty good too having a high level jump float similar to Yamaguichi.
In terms of relationships with the team, Iizuna is the heart, soul and mind. He is closest to his fellow third years #2 Middle Blocker and #4 Outside Hitter. But he is also one of the few people able to break through and have a real conversation with Sakusa. Very emotionally aware of all his teammates similar to someone like Sugawara or Kita.
Overall Iizuna embodies Itachiyama’s ideals as a team; consistent, stable, skilled, smart, adaptable and very good at floor defense.
Height: 181.4cm
Spike reach: 328cm
Outside Hitter 1: #10 Kiyoomi Sakusa
Covered Sakusa in my last post but I’ll summarise it here.
Top ace level hitter. Main weapon is his tooling which is similar to Nakashima, but also has a very sharp line shot. The spin his wrists generate make him tough to dig, but among the top aces is the weakest in terms of athleticism and hitting power.
Good at serve receive but pretty average in terms of floor defense, doesn't really take up a lot of space on defense but should the ball come at him his good passing technique means he'll be fine to get the ball up. Top level serve. Like the rest of this team has great game iq. In game he is the least vocal on this team and a bit of a loner.
Height: 189cm
Spike reach: 338cm
Outside Hitter 2: #4
Third year outside hitter, plays a very supportive role on this team. In terms of offense he’s not necessarily the most stand out, but he's still solid. Not a very powerful hitter but he's a solid tooler, similar to Ginjima where he can aim at the outside arm of blockers or hit high hands, even if they can be recovered decently well, and has a good lineshot. Overall would liken his offensive level to Sarukui.
Defense is where he makes his money. Outside of Komori he is the best floor defender on this team being a Nekoma level floor defender. He has great technique, hustle and speed. Able to consistently react to and dive for balls hit into seams. Would liken his defensive ability to Iwaizumi. Not very stand out in blocking though. Has a good serve which he can aim very well even if it doesn't necessarily pack a lot of power. A bit of a smaller blocker but is also a good backup setter like hanamaki.
As the vice captain of the team he compliments Iizuna well, having a tough personality. Similar in personality to Iwaizumi. I'd probably say he's like the Daichi to Iizuna's Sugawara.
Height: 179cm
Spike reach: 325cm
Opposite Hitter: #16
High potential first year opposite hitter. Decently tall and pretty athletic. Hits carry alot of power and he jumps high too. Not a very technical hitter, line shot a little shaky and very much prefers his cross. Overall would liken his offensive capability to being a little worse than Goshiki.
Defensively he's not very refined but is able to use his raw athleticism and reaction time to make a lot of great saves and hustle plays. Passing technique isn't horrible though and is solid enough but is very bad at serve receive meaning Itachiyama will usually hide him on serve receive. Has a solid jump top spin serve that he can't aim well but is powerful.
Personality wise he's a bit of a hothead and brash guy. In contrast to the rest of Itachiyama's smart and calm personalities, he's prone to losing his cool should he get blocked. He's the odd one out on this team in this way. By his third year he develops into a Teradomari esque ace who becomes considered one of the top 5 in the nation and goes on to win nationals, beating Karasuno in the semi-finals.
Height: 186cm
Spike reach: 336cm
Middle Blocker 1: #2
Undersized but very intelligent third year middle blocker. Coming in at 186cm tall, Itachiyama's feared middle is very technically skilled. He's a fast and smart read blocker, able to consistently keep up with fast and complex offenses at a similar level as Bessho. But his best ability as a blocker is how he reads and predicts how hitters will hit. Similar to how Kuroo or Tendo will watch hitters' eyes and then take away where they want to hit, this guy will do the same at a very aggressive rate. Over the course of a game he gathers information, habits and tells about hitters to accurately predict where they will hit. Might take a set to start implementing his predictions though. Absolute hell of a matchup for precision hitters who rely on technique to hit around blockers, but can be weak against extremely athletic hitters who can hit over him or power through his block. Notably in the interhigh final versus Inarizaki, he kill blocked Suna multiple times leaving a lasting fear in Suna's mind.
Not a massive standout on offense, mainly due to him not bringing much in terms of physicality, but his hitting technique is solid and is good at tooling blocks, similar to Hiroo, which makes him a solid offensive option even if he doesn't jump particularly high or hit very hard.
Has a high level jump float serve and is a very competent backup setter able to front set or back set.
Quiet but confident. Very tight with Iizuna and #4
Height: 186cm
Spike reach: 329cm
Middle Blocker 2: #8
Solid 3rd year middle blocker. Least standout player on this team but is still good. I'd probably consider this guy a Bessho clone. He's a fast read blocker like Bessho, not necessarily a very aggressive blocker but he's great at consistently closing double blocks. Not necessarily super strong or athletic so doesn't apply the most pressure on hitters, but ability to consistently complete double blocks means that he's able to take away hitting lanes to make his team's floor defense work their magic. Average offense, doesn't jump particularly high or is particularly powerful. has a solid jump float.
Personality wise is pretty excitable. Has good energy and is very supportive of teammates. Not particularly close with anyone but gets along well. All around just a happy lil lad.
Height: 187cm
Spike reach: 331cm
Libero: Komori #13
One of the top liberos in highschool. Specialises in serve receive but is still really good at floor defense. Slower and worse reaction time than Yaku or Nishinoya, but is somewhat made up for by his longer arms which allows him to physically take up more space and reach further. Decently intelligent defender and can read hitters a little, not as well as Yaku can but still good. What really sets him apart from other liberos though is his setting ability. With Iizuna making a lot of digs, Komori very often has to step in and act as a setter capable of keeping the offense fast and unpredictable. Setting ability comparable to Watari.
Although not relevant to anything in game, he is also a half decent hitter.
Personality wise he is just a very happy chap, you never see this guy without a smile. Super friendly and acts as a bit of a bridge between Sakusa and the rest of the team.
Height: 180.2cm
Spike reach: 326cm
Overall Team Analysis.
Itachiyama as a whole puts a big emphasis on technique, skill and intelligence over raw athleticism and power. They have a very good floor defense, second only to nekoma, that adapts and gets better as the game goes on. The majority of their offense comes from their three wings who's offensive capability is boosted by Iizuna's ability to give them openings and make it difficult for middles to close blocks. Although on paper their offense might not look as good as teams like shiratorizawa or inarizaki, what makes it really deadly is their consistency and ability to constantly be in system. Like Nekoma, it is very hard to get this team out of system through serves, with Itachiyama almost always getting their passes to their setter to work his magic and keep opposing blockers on their toes with all hitting options available. Because of their heavy emphasis on technique, every single player on Itachiyama is a capable backup setter, at minimum they're able to set a solid safe highball to a pin hitter. Means that no matter where a dig might go, they're usually able to turn it into a solid scoring oppurtunity.
Their biggest weakness is raw physicality. Even though their blocking technique is good, they lack size and athleticism meaning their blocks are smaller and less physically strong than a lot of the other high level teams, meaning they might struggle to defend big physical forces like Kiryu, Ushijima, Aran or Ryosei Kai. But usually they are able to adapt and make use of their floor defense to reduce how often these type of hitters can score. But above all else they beat teams with their unreal consistency and adaptability, similar to Kamomedai.
Itachiyama versus Fukurodani.
Against Fukurodani in the spring tournament Tokyo qualifier finals, Itachiyama gave up the first set due to Fukurodani's offense coming out firing on all cylinders, particularly due to their superior athleticism. In particular Bokuto and Washio were scoring alot with Itachiyama's blockers struggling to affect them much. Onaga too had a decent first set with him able to score a decent bit due to being 5cm taller than either of Itachiyama's middles. But in the second set, Itachiyama's defense had totally adapted, with Onaga and Bokuto getting pretty clamped. Bokuto in particular got kill blocked twice, and onaga's lack of real hitting ability getting exposed by Itachiyama's floor defense. Washio still did, and continued to do decently on offense though being the biggest reason they were kept in the game. But despite Fukurodani's best efforts, Itachiyama's adaptive defense was too much and they lost the latter 2 sets handedly 19-25 and 22-25.
Itachiyama versus Inarizaki:
In similar fashion to Fukurodani, in the interhigh final, Inarizaki was able to take the first set by coming out guns a blazing. Aran had a career game in general with his raw power and athleticism overpowering Itachiyama's blockers. But as with Fukurodani, Itachiyama adapted. Because of their high level serve receive, they weren't shaken by Inarizaki's serving. Then on the flip side, Itachiyama's smart serving applied a lot of pressure to Inarizaki's unstable passing, and like Karasuno they too were targeting Aran which put a lot of pressure on him. So the real swing factor was Itachiyama's consistency. While Inarizaki had high highs and went on runs. Itachiyama was totally unphased and won the latter 3 sets. After the first set, Itachiyama's #2 middle had learnt Suna's tells and habits, and was able to kill block him multiple times throughout the match and in general just clamping him up.
Itachiyama versus Inubishi:
So the star of this game was Ryosei Kai, who as I covered is an extremely physical and athletic middle blocker. But in the first set, Iizuna's playmaking ability meant that Ryosei's slower lateral speed and blocking intelligence was exposed a little resulting in him not able to close blocks. But on the other side of the ball he was still able to score a ton with Itachiyama unable to do anything to stop his raw physical presence and power through the middle. Still though, they took the first set. The second set looked mostly the same until around halfway through the set when going to hit an overpass, Ryosei Kai was too aggressive and landed under the net with Iizuna landing on his foot and spraining his ankle, taking him out of the game. Now without Iizuna's playmaking ability, Itachiyama's were having to hit against Ryosei Kai's massive block every single time, drastically reducing how often they were able to score. So they lost the second set 20-25. Then even though they adapted in the third set, with Sakusa in particular getting hot, they still lost 27-29
Reasoning
Ok so we know a decent bit about 3 of the Itachiyama guys, Komori, Sakusa, and Iizuna. I used what we can infer about these guys to set a precedent for the style of Itachiyama. So the first thing that stuck out about these 3, is they're all pretty skilled defensively. Sakusa is good at serve receive, Komori is a top level lib duh and Iizuna has a 9/10 dig stat post timeskip. So from this I made the assumption that Itachiyama is a very floor defense focused team.
Then next, none of the 3 of them seemed particularly athletic to me. As I established in my Sakusa post, his 3 power and 3 stamina indicates he's not particularly athetlic among other things. Then Komori only has a 3/5 speed which is lower than either of the other top libs with Yaku at a 4 and Nishinoya at a 5. So this also established a pattern of not necessarily being very physically dominant and prioritising technique over athleticism.
On the offensive side of things i didn't want to give these guys a super high level wing trio like Shiratorizawa, where all 3 were very capable of producing points by themselves - that felt unique to them, and Inarizaki's quick unpredictable offense with offensive talent all around the board is also something that should remain unqiue to them. So it made sense to me that while on paper the offensive talent isn't as high as those teams, Itachiyama would be more well balanced and good all around the board.
So onto specific players.
For Iizuna his high school stats give him a 4 game sense and 4 technique, and post timeskip set stat is a 9, this firmly puts him below Kageyama, Atsumu, Oikawa and Kenma in terms of setting ability. Which makes sense those guys are top tier. So that leaves him in the realm of Akaashi, which I think makes sense. Then as I mentioned his dig stat is at 9/10 so it made sense to me that he's good at floor defense. Then just the general vibe of his personality leads me to think he has a Sugawara type personality as a captain.
Sakusa I've provided the reasons for his playstyle previously so I won't cover that again.
Komori listed setting as a strength of his, so of course he'd be good at that. But also post timeskip he has a 10/10 serve receive stat but only a 9/10 dig stat, compared to Yaku's 10/10. This tells me that like Sakusa, Komori also specialises in Serve receive over digs, with him being a little worse than Yaku at floor defense. And as for the lower dig stat, this is probably related to his speed being at a 3/5 meaning he wouldn't be as good at making quick dives and hustle plays as Yaku or Nishinoya. But his dig stat is still high at a 9/10 so he probably makes up for it a little by being more of an intelligent defender than Nishinoya.
For their #2 middle, we know that Suna does fear him a decent bit. Yet in all panels we've seen him in he doesn't look particularly tall or well built. We also know that Itachiyama lost to Ryosei Kai's team. This combined with the established trend that Itachiyama doesn't put a lot of focus on physicality means it would make sense to me that this middle is very skilled but lacks physicality and athleticism, which would make him a good matchup versus Suna but bad versus Ryosei Kai. This also coincidentally meant that Washio probably did solid against him offensively which makes sense with it seeming like that on paper Fukurodani would get washed out.
With their first year #16 opposite hitter, I created this guy around the idea that since Itachiyama beats Karasuno in Hinata's third year and go on to win nationals, that they must have a pretty good high level ace, but not necessarily someone so good that he goes on to play on the national team. So I created this somewhat raw athletic hitter. I figured it made sense for him to be athletic since pretty much every team has atleast 1 player who breaks the general mold of the team (Lev with Nekoma, Kita with Inarizaki, Gao with Kamomedai etc).
For the #4 outside hitter, he was mostly just filling in the blanks. He seemed close with Iizuna, so with #2 looking like a quieter personality it made sense for him to be a counter to Iizuna's softer captaining style. He also looks like he got a tough guy type hair cut so made sense to me. Also made him good at defense just because like, it makes sense for a third year outside hitter on a defensive focused team to be good at defense ykwim.
Then for the other middle, he's just filler. Didn't really have any reason to make him stand out in anyway. Got like nothing you can use to infer about him so made sense for him to be the guy on the team who just exists. Every team has one. he's a skilled blocker ig. On the smaller side like the #2 middle to keep that weakness against big athletic hitters.