USA's Kimberly Glass (left) jumps for the ball with Cuba wing spiker Rosir Calderon during a preliminary pool B women's Volleyball match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing yesterday. - AP

BEIJING (AP):

The United States women's volleyball team, playing in their second match of an emotionally draining Olympics, lost to Cuba in three sets yesterday.

Cuba, ranked third in the world, overpowered the US women 25-15, 26-24, 25-17 and are up 2-0 in preliminary round play. The U.S. women were even at 1-1.

USA volleyball is reeling from the stabbing death of Todd Bachman, father of former Olympian Elisabeth "Wiz" Bachman McCutcheon and father-in-law of the US men's coach, Hugh McCutcheon. Bachman was attacked by a knife-wielding man at a tourist site in Beijing on Saturday.

Wounded seriously

His wife, Barbara, was seriously wounded by the assailant, who jumped to his death from a balcony of the Drum Tower, a landmark the Americans were visiting.

US Olympics Committee spokes-man, Darryl Seibel, said yesterday that Barbara Bachman's condition had been upgraded from critical to serious but stable.

Many of the women on the team played with Bachman McCutcheon in the 2004 Athens Olympics. The Bachmans frequently accompanied USA Volleyball to tournaments and were especially close to the women's team.

US setter Lindsey Berg said she wasn't sure if the tragedy played into yesterday's loss, but said "it has been an emotionally draining 48 hours".

"We're still trying to stay strong for Wiz and the entire family and for USA Volleyball," she said.

In other women's volleyball matches yesterday, Italy defeated Kazakhstan 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-21), Serbia defeated Algeria 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-13), Brazil beat Russia 3-0 (25-14, 25-16, 26-16), China defeated Poland 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-22) and Japan defeated Venzuela 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-12).

The US men opened competition Sunday with a victory over Venezuela. Assistant Ron Larsen was named interim head coach in McCutcheon's absence.

The US women defeated Japan in their opening game on Saturday, while Cuba also won its first match against Poland.

Against Cuba, the United States struggled. The US women were up 5-1 in the first set when Cuba called a time-out to regroup and came back to surge ahead 8-5. Cuba went on to claim the set 25-15.

The United States kept it closer in the second, but Yumilka Ruiz's cross-court spike for match point gave the set to Cuba. The US team was similarly outdueled in the third.