Cuba survived some dicey moments to edge past Olympic debutants Serbia in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the Beijing Games women's volleyball tournament on Tuesday.
Former world champion and Athens bronze medalist Cuba met serious challenge from the Serbian women in the beginning of the match. The opening set was close as either of the teams could pull away until the set was levelled at 24-all.
Cuban spiker Yumilka Ruiz hit an excellent smash and then an error from Serbia gave Cuba the first set.
It was in the second set that the Cuban women, who won three straight Olympic gold medals in 1992, 1996 and 2000, have started to take control over the match.
After another Ruiz smash, the first technical timeout came with Cuba in front 8-3. Yanelis Santos, Ruiz and Rachel Sanchez kept the points coming for the Cuban side on the resumption, forcing their opponents off for a timeout while trailing 12-4 behind.
Cuba brought up the second technical timeout with 16-10 while the Serbian women, having stunned the world with their third-place run in the World Championships 2006, could hardly test Cuba, losing the set at 25-19 after a Jelena Nikolic long serve.
Serbia mounted a strong comeback in the third set, and despite trailing behind at both technical timeouts, the team levelled the match at 16-16 after Jovana Brakocevic and Natasa Krsmanovic hit two sizzlers.
The rivalry became tense and Serbia was on a surge, noticeably two straight blocks from Maja Ognjenovic to help the team overtake the lead at 22-20.
However, Serbia was not consistent in the remaining time. Rosir Calderon and Nancy Carrillo smashed home consecutively before Cuba edged past Serbia at 26-24 to close out the match in one hour and 20 minutes.
(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2008)