U.S. Women's Volley Team Exacts Revenge Against Cuba, Will Play Brazil For Gold

Beijing, China (AHN) - The United States exacted revenge over Cuba by carving out a 25-20, 25-16, 25-17 result in the women's volleyball semifinals, sending the Americans to the gold medal game at the Capital Indoor Stadium Thursday afternoon.

The U.S. team grilled the previously-unbeaten Cubans in three sets, exactly the same way the Caribbean athletes swamped their foes in the preliminaries. But the Americans did it where the stakes were high, setting up a finals affair Saturday night against Brazil, which kept its unbeaten streak alive with a 27-25, 25-22, 25-14 thumping of defending Olympic champion China in the other semifinals.

The victory assured the U.S. of its best finish in the quadrennial event, easily keeping Cuba out of the gold medal match. The Cubans had been three-time winners in the event but found the American defense too tough to crack from start to finish.

The U.S., which had never won a gold in women's volleyball, would have made the finals an intriguing one had China overcome Brazil. A U.S.-China gold medal game would mark a repeat of the 1984 final in Los Angeles, when current U.S. coach Jenny Lang Ping played for China's championship team.

The Americans had lost only once coming to the semifinals-the loss against Cuba on Aug. 11-before defeating Venezuela, China and Poland. They finished with a 4-1 record before crawling back from a 2-1 deficit in beating Italy in the quarterfinals.

Brazil swept Group B and hasn't surrendered a lone set entering the finals. After lording it over Italy, Russia, Serbia, Kazakhstan and Algeria, the Brazilians whipped Japan in the quarters before facing the Chinese team.