Starts off with the recap of what happened so far. Recap is very Seigaku biased (of course). It was basically saying how Rikkai won the first two games but Seigaku didn't give up and instead fought hard and won back two games. Everything depends on the 2 singles players. Of course when describing Seigaku, they used ornate descriptions. Announcer announces the start of the match.

Inoue: Frankly, I didn't want to see the progress of this match.
Inoue: /This match----it feels like something unexpected is going to happen./

Now if THAT doesn't foreshadow that something major is going to happen, I don't know what does. Now is it unexpected to Seigaku or to Rikkai? To the Seigaku FANS or Rikkai FANS? It might be something absurd like a no game and they have to go to alternates only Rikkai doesn't have any alternates so they lose by default! (or not... my brain likes to overreact and think of worst-case scenarios)

Jackal: Yukimura's surgery has already started.
Akaya: So-sorry...
Bunta + Jackal: No one's blaming you? [arrow: in one breath]
Niou: The staff officer also...
Renji: I'm really sorry.
Yagyuu: No matter what, if we don't concentrate on the match, we'll be tripped by Seigaku.

Yagyuu: However... Sanada-kun is a fighting demon. The moment he enters the court, he is able to abandon any distracting thoughts.
Yagyuu: Right now his mind only contain...
Yagyuu: thoughts about how to mercilessly defeat/destroy the opponent in front of him.

Ok on to the commentary for this lovely Rikkai part. I thought it was really cute when Akaya was apologizing. He looked embarassed yet he still tried to be "cool" about it. XD; Typical for 13 year olds. <3 I was REALLY happy when Bunta and Jackal replied at the same time. They're totally in sync. X3 My inner JaBun fangirl squealed. What they said was nice too. ^_^ Niou's comment just further shows how militaristic Rikkai is. He calls Renji "staff officer" (kanji: sanbou). In a military sense, a staff officer is part of the board that plans wars. Yukimura would be the Chief of Staff (sanbouchou). The title fits Renji. And it's also Niou's roundabout way of comforting Akaya...at the expense of Renji. XD;;;

When Yagyuu said "fighting demon" it means that Sanada takes it very seriously and is a fanatic. Hmm if he really is able to abandon all other thoughts, then wouldn't his level of concentration be like Akaya's or higher? Maybe morphaileffect is correct in inferring that Sanada may have a "selfless" state as well.

Ryoma: Ne...does the National Tournament have monsters like you all over?

Momoshiro: Th-that guy... even in this atmosphere he's still not a bit scared.

Sanada: /But...he's still too naive/childish/young./

Ryoma: Wouldn't taking off your wristbands be better?
Sanada: Don't worry. I've already taken off the weights.
Sanada: Don't hold back. Bring out your true strengths, Echizen Ryoma.
(you can understand what Ryoma says...)

haha..Ryoma is really snarky. But after reading sesame_seed's comments, I guess it is in some way a complement to Sanada. As in he's so strong that he's not human but a monster. Or he's just dissing Sanada like he always do to his opponents. XD; Oh well. Actually I'm not sure if Sanada thinks that... He probably does but why the "but"? Why is there a linking word when he didn't say/think anything before?! Ok I look too much into the wording. +_+; Moving on.

Rikkai was surprised to see Ryoma powering up and entering the selfless mode the same way Akaya did.

Sanada: Oh... /Looks like he remembered after watching that last match....../
Ryoma: Let's go!
Sanada: Come. I'll easily defeat you.

It seems Sanada is prepared to go all out from the beginning. Both sides are confident. Both have reason to be confident... Sanada is the strongest junior high tennis player and Ryoma hasn't lost a game...yet. I really love the conversations between the Rikkai players. They seem to get along well. I realized a few things by going back to some earlier chapters.

Taki was hanging out with the Hyotei regulars when Oshitari was commenting on how Renji along with Yukimura and Sanada took Rikkai to the Nationals. Why is Taki still hanging around them? It might be that they're friends so they're hanging out, which is really nice.

Another thing is that Sanada told Akaya to sit on the bench where either the Coach or Captain sits. Could this gesture mean that Akaya is the heir? XDDDD Well he probably IS but it's cute to me because Sana-papa is caring. XD; I mean he could've just told him to sit down on the bench behind the fence but he didn't. I think the coaching bench symbolizes the throne to captaincy. This makes another parallel in that Tezuka allowed Ryoma to sit on the coaching bench during Hyotei's match with Atobe.

hehe There was a typo. It said Genius 229 when it's actually 224. :B