The United States (2-3) entered the Games as the world's top-ranked team. Its all-or-nothing win gives it a slot in the quarterfinals against second-ranked Brazil tomorrow, and avoids the humiliation of an early exit.

After losing to the Dominican Republic and Russia in five games in consecutive matches, the U.S. will take squeezing into the quarterfinals in any form, and against any team.

"I was wondering, 'Where is the team I know?'"said outside hitter Logan Tom, who had a match-high 15 kills and team-best three aces. "The funny thing is, it's the Olympics and that's where you are supposed to get that fire. We said, 'We need to pull it out now or it's going to be too late.' It almost was too late."

The lapses that marred their previous two matches never surfaced yesterday, in front of a crowd that from the start chanted, "Cuba! Cuba!"

Trailing 13-10 in Game 1, the Americans put together a 10-4 run and forced the Cubans to use both timeouts, first at 13-all and again down 20-17. Cuba tied the match at 20 before Tayyiba Haneef took over.

Team USA took a 22-20 lead on a Haneef kill and an ace from Keba Phipps. Cuba tied the score with a kill and ace of its own, but could only watch as Haneef blasted two kills and Tom closed it by burying a free ball.

"I think people can see it: We weren't playing for each other. We were playing for individuals the first three matches," Tom said. "That's what it felt like. I think there are a lot more smiles on the court right now."

The Americans owned Game 2, surging to an 8-1 advantage on four kills by former University of Hawai'i All-American Heather Bown, a block by Tom, a kill by Haneef and a pair of Cuban errors. Cuba could get no closer than five points again.

Cuba, which had already qualified for the quarterfinals, improved in Game 3, but the United States maintained its intensity after snapping a 4-4 tie and never relinquished the lead.

"I think the real key is that our energy surpassed theirs," said Bown, who scored nine points on eight kills and one block. "They're usually a very emotional team, and you can see it when they play. They get real hyped when they get kills and they're banging balls and tonight we out-energized them.

"Our serving was great, our blocking was good ... every aspect of our game just kind of clicked tonight, along with our chemistry that we've been working on the last couple nights. It was great out there. It was really, really fun to play."

Bown and setter Robyn Ah Mow-Santos — another former UH All-American — are among the six Americans who lost the bronze-medal match to Brazil at the last Olympics.

"For the girls from Sydney, it's a revenge match," Bown said. "If we beat them, they're out."