BEIJING — Honolulu's Lindsey Berg served the U.S. women's volleyball team to leads of 8-0 and 5-0 in the fourth and fifth sets, respectively, to help the fourth-ranked Americans rally for a 20-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-18, 15-6 victory over second-ranked Italy yesterday in a women's Olympic volleyball quarterfinal at the Capital Gymnasium.

The U.S. advances to the semifinals tomorrow (6:30 p.m. today in Hawai'i) against third-ranked Cuba, which defeated Serbia 26-24, 25-19, 26-24.

Team USA is looking to reach the Olympic medal stand for the first time since 1992 when it won bronze.

"It's awesome," Heather Bown, the 29-year-old middle hitter and former University of Hawai'i player, said of advancing to the medal round. "We still have a job to do. We have Cuba coming up and we lost to them in pool play. We have to come back and redeem ourselves."

The teams met in the Olympics in 2004 when the U.S. won a preliminary game.

"If we can get in Cuba's head a little bit, they can break down like any other team," Berg said.

Emotion will be a key factor, Willoughby said.

"People make fun of us because we're so emotional," she said. "But we have that energy, we have that fight. We've won our last couple of matches in five sets, coming from behind."

In the only U.S. pool-play defeat, Cuba took advantage of a plethora of the Americans' mistakes — sloppy passing, lackluster defense, poor communication. Nearly everything the U.S. did wrong, Cuba did right.

"We need to pass a little better," Berg said. "Even if we don't pass it better, get good enough sets for our outsides. That's a couple more balls. ... They had a great match, and we had a flat match. It goes back and forth."

The U.S. volleyball team features three former UH players in Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, Bown and Kim Willoughby. Berg is a Punahou School graduate who played collegiately at Minnesota. Logan Tom is from Salt Lake City, Utah, but her late father, Mel, was a star high school athlete in Hawai'i and played in the NFL.

"I can't even describe how we feel, but we are happy," team captain Ah Mow-Santos said. "We had a couple meetings earlier today, and we knew this was going to be a difficult match. We have been the underdogs against Italy the last four or five times. The 12 of us said this was going to be a team effort, and it was a big team effort. I am going to have to give props to Lindsey Berg for coming in and firing up the team big time."

U.S. coach Lang Ping was happy with yesterday's result.

"For the last four years, we have not won over Italy," Ping said. "It is a great team, very consistent with great defensive passing. It is hard to find a weakness. We have been thinking very hard the last two days how to play Italy. We did a great job technically preparing for Italy."

China beat Russia, 25-22, 27-25, 25-19, and will face the world's top-ranked team, Brazil, which swept Japan 25-12, 25-20, 25-16 in the other semifinal match.

Italy won the first set, breaking away from a 15-all tie with a 7-2 run. Team USA bounced back in the second set, rallying from a 17-15 deficit to win 25-21. Italy jumped to an 11-3 lead in Game 3 and pushed to 18-9 before holding off a 7-2 American surge to win Game 3.

"In the third set when we were behind, we tried to make a few position changes," Ping said. "I think it was very successful, and I would like to congratulate my players."

The U.S. maintained the momentum from late in the third set by scoring the first eight points of the fourth set on Berg's serve en route to an easy victory. Berg took the service line to start the final game and served the first five points to help the U.S. win quickly.

"(Berg) was amazing, she brought us back," outside hitter Tayyiba Haneef-Park said. "We had no fire at the end of the third set. She came in and changed the mindset of the team."

Tom led the U.S. attack with 14 kills, three blocks and two aces for 19 points. Danielle Scott-Arruda, playing in her fourth Olympics and in search of her first medal, racked up 15 kills on 20 attacks to go with two blocks for 17 points. Haneef-Park totaled 17 points on 12 kills, four blocks and an ace.

Bown, a two-time first-team All-American while at UH in 1998-99, added nine kills, three blocks and an ace.

Willoughby, a three-time first-team All-American while at UH and national Player of the Year in 2003, came off the bench to spark the Americans with nine kills on 14 attacks, without an error. Kim Glass contributed eight points. Berg, who started the last two games after subbing in the first three, tallied three aces and a block. Nicole Davis led the defense with 10 digs. Ah Mow-Santos, a McKinley High alum who was a first-team All-American at UH in 1995 and '96, handed out 23 assists, while Berg chipped in 21 off the bench.

"Oh my God," Willoughby said. "I never imagined being here and playing that match. Everybody told us we would never beat them. It's a huge win for us. I am just ecstatic right now. I'm shaking so much and the match is over."