BEIJING • One more win, and “Jenny” Lang Ping becomes a volleyball savior again.

The U.S. women’s indoor volleyball team dismantled Cuba 3-0 in Thursday’s semifinals of the Beijing Games to secure its first Olympic medal in 16 years and move within a victory of its first gold.

A 25-20, 25-16, 25-17 triumph that lasted 73 minutes puts the No. 4 Americans, based at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, into the gold-medal match Saturdayagainst No. 1 Brazil, a 3-0 winner over No. 7 China.

As a player, Lang, 47, helped China to a gold with an upset of the U.S. at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. As a coach, she led China to a silver at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

“It’s unbelievable,” Lang said after a wild celebration in which she ran around the court, screaming and hugging anyone in red, white and blue.

Belief turned into reality when No. 3 Cuba, the 2004 Olympic bronze medalists and three-time Olympic champions, collapsed under a plethora of uncharacteristic mistakes, 10 days after beating the U.S. 3-0 in pool play.

Fourteen service errors, including seven in the first set, gave the Americans a sizeable cushion, and the U.S. outsmarted Cuba with deceptive passing and overpowered it behind big-swinging outside hitters and dominant middle blockers.

The Americans never trailed by more than a point in the first. They ran away with the second on a 9-3 spurt. And players partied in the third with a 21-15 lead.

“I was surprised about the amount of serves they were missing and the errors they were making,” Kim Glass said. “That came with us keeping the pressure. That tends to happen when you start passing their (serves) so easy. They want to serve harder, or they try to take a little bit off, and it becomes too easy.”

Said Logan Tom: “Cuba killed us with their serve last time. It’s one of their biggest weapons. … The way they handled us before, I don’t think they were expecting for us to come out and be as prepared as we were.”

One day of preparation limits the number of new wrinkles Lang can install for Brazil, the 2008 World Grand Prix champions and 2006 world championships silver medalists.

In their last meeting, Brazil topped the U.S. in three sets at the World Grand Prix. The U.S. dropped two of three exhibition matches against Brazil in June at the OTC.

“We’re going to get the gold,” Lindsey Berg said. “Silver is good. But why not get the gold?”

Since China is eliminated from gold-medal contention, most fans in attendance probably will root for the U.S. because of Lang, so popular here she can’t go shopping, catch a movie or walk down the street without being hounded for autographs.

“I’m more happy for the players,” Lang said. “It’s not because I’m not happy. It’s more for the players. It’s their dream.”-CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0256 or brian.gomez@gazettedev.gazette.com. Check out our Olympics blog at gazetteolympics.freedomblogging.com

US Soccer team member Carli Lloyd, left is fouled by Brazil’s Erika in the second half of the US team’s 1-0 win over Brazil in the Gold Medal Soccer game Photo by Mark Reis, The Gazette

MARK REIS