SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 13 : BLOWN AWAY BY THIS ONE

The first game was 15-8, United States.

The second was 15-9, Cuba.

The third was 15-6, United States.

The fourth was 15-5, Cuba.

The quality of play in the U.S.-Cuba women’s volleyball semifinal match Thursday night fluctuated violently--”It was, in some ways, a weird match,” Cuban Coach Eugenio George noted--and afterward, the players blamed the wind conditions.

Inside the Palau Sant Jordi.

“There was a breeze inside the room,” Cuban captain Mireya Luis said. “A very cold breeze. It made it very difficult to serve on that side of the court.”

Added Kim Oden of the United States: “I don’t think volleyball matches are often played in places as huge as this. There was a lot of open space underneath the big (overhead) television screen, and the currents in there were weird. When the wind was at your back, it made serving tougher.

“That’s something we don’t have to deal with in most of the gyms we play in.”

By the fifth game, the Cubans discovered how to reap the wild wind. They won the decisive game, 15-11, to advance to tonight’s gold-medal match against the Commonwealth of Independent States.

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and Baltimore Sun, all Times-Mirror newspapers.