The United States set up a clash against Cuba in women's volleyball semifinals after coming back from two sets down to outlast Italy on August 19.

The Americans, who were "underdog" in all recent matches against the Europeans, stayed calm when falling two sets behind to win over the Italians 20-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-18, 15-6 in the quarterfinals.

"In the last four years we haven't been able to beat Italy. In the last two days we have been studying how to play against them and we had good technical preparation," said the US head coach Lang Ping. "I told my players not to think about the result, but to fight for every point, especially if we are behind. When we met different situations we made quick adjustments."

The Italian head coach Massimo Barbolini felt "bitter" after losing the game despite an early advantage.

"During the match, fighting ball after ball, we were making the foundations for a good result, but we weren't able to push when it was needed," he said. "The US always play at a high level, even when they don't play their best. From the fourth set they started playing very well. They have been able to take advantage of our errors and of their own capabilities, which they used to win the fourth and fifth sets."

The US wing spiker Kimberly Glass, who had her 24th birthday on Monday, now picked up confidence despite her unstable performances at the court.

"The victory is a great gift and now we just want to keep advancing to win the next game," said Glass.

The best Olympic record for the US team is a silver medal at the Los Angeles Games in 1984, and they will face Cuba, to whom they lost in preliminaries in straight sets, in the semifinals scheduled on Thursday.

"In our first clash, they had an amazing service game. They will probably try that again, and we need to be able to block their strong attackers," said the US player Tayyiba Haneef-Park.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2008)