BEIJING, Aug. 21 — Only once in Olympic history have the USA women advanced to the gold medal match. It was in 1984 and outside hitter Lang Ping led China to victory. We are now looking for coach Lang Ping to lead USA to a gold medal performance over Brazil.

She certainly had the troops ready to play Cuba, putting USA in position for a gold or silver medal. And it certainly helped to have Cuba coming back to earth with its normal inconsistent play. The Cubans missed a ton of serves and were therefore unable to build momentum at any time during the match. The USA took full advantage of the gifted opportunities, playing more confidently and businesslike than any other time during the competition. It was definitely the American's finest serving match, forcing Cuba into many passing errors. USA even got all the breaks, winning many points after making significant errors. It apparently was meant to be.

In all three games, Robyn "set" the stage with her starting group of Logan, Kim G, Ty, Danny, Heather and Nicole for Lindsey and Kim W to sub in and close out Cuba. Three- to four-point leads were built up by the second technical timeout of each game with all starters taking turns making timely "big plays" serving, spiking, blocking and digging. And of course, every good pass was "the" key play. If Cuba had any hope of coming back in any of the games, Kim W, feasting on Lindsey's sets, "killed" any possibility of that happening.

After the Italy win, USA was labeled as the "emerging threat." I believe we are still emerging and peaking at the right time to upset Brazil. USA caught Brazil sleeping in the World Cup last November after Brazil easily won the first two games. With timely subs by Lang Ping, USA came back to win the five-game match and go on to finish third in qualifying for an Olympic berth. By the way, Italy won going undefeated with Brazil finishing second ahead of the USA after its loss to Serbia.