U.S. and Brazil to meet in women's volleyball final

By John Ruwitch

BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States thumped Cuba 3-0 on Thursday to reach the Olympic women's volleyball final for the first time in 24 years, getting payback for a straight-sets loss to the Cubans in the preliminary round.

Brazil later clobbered China 3-0 to maintain a perfect record and end the host's quest to defend its Athens gold medal.

The fourth-ranked Americans and world number one Brazilians face off for gold on Saturday. It will be Brazil's first women's volleyball Olympic final.

"The USA is a very good team, their defense is very good. It's a surprising final, Brazil and USA, but I think the final will be very difficult," said Brazil's Fabiana de Oliveira.

Following their surprise 25-20 25-16 25-17 defeat some of the Cuban players sobbed while others sat on the bench in stunned silence.

"After playing Cuba the last time, the team in itself made an agreement that we would never play that level of volleyball ever again," said Kim Willoughby, who scored the three last points with smashes.

"I'm just hoping that in two days we play the same style of volleyball and we get the same results."

Cuba, who once dominated women's volleyball and won the bronze four years ago, trailed for most of the match on Thursday, struggling with errors. Their erratic serving in the third set gift-wrapped the victory for the Americans.

"Our reception was very bad, and we made many mistakes in service," said Cuba's coach, Antonio Perdomo Estrella.

"With these two elements no good, it is impossible to win."

China had an early lead in the first game against Brazil but later missed two set points, allowing Brazil to win 27-25 after a long rally that Sheilla Castro ended with a spike.

The second set saw Brazil leading early. China evened it up, but Brazil advanced at the end to win 25-22. In the third set, China collapsed, losing 25-14.

"If we had gone 1-1 for the first two sets there would still have been hope, but it went 2-0 and the players' emotional states changed suddenly," said China's head coach Chen Zhonghe.

(Editing by Steve Ginsburg)