Olympic volleyball: Women rally vs. Italy

    BEIJING - Logan Tom and her teammates on the U.S. women's volleyball team seem to have finally discovered a formula for success at the Beijing Olympics, which should make things awfully interesting in their semifinal match against powerful Cuba.
    On account of, you know, all the losing.
    The three-time champion Cubans don't figure to play along so nicely with the dramatic script the Americans have been writing, the one in which they fall almost hopelessly behind before staging a stunning rally. Three times in a row they've done it now, most recently in a 20-25, 25-21, 19-25,25-17, 15-6 victory over Italy in the elimination quarterfinals Wednesday at the Capital Gymnasium.
    "Oh my God," outside hitter Kim 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."
    Mostly, because it gives them two opportunities to earn the medal that has so painfully eluded them the past two Olympics - even if they lose in the semifinals Thursday, they will play for bronze - though the chance to exact revenge against the Cubans apparently is another powerful motivation.
    "They put a foot in our ass last time," Tom said.
    Yes, Cuba shut out the Americans during preliminary group play, but that was before they began their amazing streak of come-from-behind wins. They did it first against China, then Poland - losing two of the first three sets and having to rally to win the last two straight to take the match.
    The same thing happened against Italy, the Americans making unforced errors and passing poorly from the start, allowing the Italians to pound right through their block and claim two of the first three sets. The third set was particularly gruesome, the Italians racing to an 11-3 lead and cruising into control of the match.
    "We had no fire at the end of the third set," outside hitter Tayyiba Haneef-Park said.
    Enter Lindsey Berg.
    The backup setter came on in the fourth set and just like that, the Americans were ablaze. Suddenly, they were the team dominating at the net and digging every shot, jumping to an 8-0 lead that ignited their emotions and never looking back.
    Clearly stunned, the Italians never recovered. Tom finished with 14 kills and three blocks.
    The Americans "have always been like this," Italy's Jenny Barazza said. "They take out their best at the right time."
    Well, maybe not always.
    Tom remembers all too clearly her first Olympics at the 2000 Sydney Games, when she was a 19-year-old almost straight out of Highland High School who led the young Americans surprisingly into the semifinals. Once there, though, they lost two straight matches and finished fourth - then managed only a disappointing fifth-place finish four years ago at the Athens Games.
    Tom joked that her mother is probably cursing her for making her matches unnecessarily dramatic.
    "She just turned 59," Tom said, "she's saying, 'I can't take this anymore.' " Yet she also agreed with her teammates that they have finally started to really trust each other.
    "The key thing is we rally together," outside hitter Kim Glass said. "We really just came together and we just supported each other and we fought for each other with heart. We know this was just do or die. . . .No one can beat us when we play together."
    They will soon see about that.
    The Cubans have not lost yet in the tournament - they swept away Serbia 26-24, 25-19, 26-24 in the quarterfinals - and have shut out four of their six opponents so far, losing but three sets along the way. Still, the Americans are confident.
    "I think you'll see a different team out there against Cuba," Tom said.