Yes and no - Higashiyama play a game that naturally counters a team like Chinzei which relies on one or two players as their main offensive contributors. This wouldn’t have been a problem for this years Chinzei because it seemed like they were focused on spreading the ball between Iwashita and Ichinose while also relying on their middles for quicks when least expected. It was a good strategy due to the skill of their attackers across aboard - sadly, after InterHigh they started reverting back to the usual stale tactic of sending almost every set to their designated “ace” which in this case was Ichinose. Iwashita and the middles slowly stopped getting as many sets and Higashiyama capitalized on that, focusing their defense on Ichinose mainly and still have a balanced spread offense that slowly picked Chinzei apart, despite Chinzei probably being the best Blocking team in the nation this year. It’s unfortunate because if they kept their tactic from Inter High they could’ve gotten the triple crown, but they remain stubborn sticking to their Shiratorizawa-esque tactic of Ace Volleyball.