Unbeaten defending champions Cuba droped a set against the United States to record their eighth victory in the 12-nation women's volleyball World Cup round-robin tournament in Kanazawa on November 12.

The back-to-back Olympic and World champions won 25-12, 26-24, 21-25, 25-13 but encountered some stiff resistance from the Americans despite coach Mick Hayley's decision to field his bench players for virtually the whole match.

The match looked like it would be over very soon after the Caribbeans ran away with the opening set, but the United States had other ideas.

After an early Cuban lead in the second set, the 1984 Olympic finalists came back strongly and even led 22-21, but a reception error on the second Cuban setpoints blew the American chances away.

However, the United States built up a huge lead in the third set and never relinquished the advantage. Cuba reacted to the dropped set by moving into full power again to seal victory.

"My team performed well," U.S. coach Haley said.

Hayley's Cuban counterpart Antoino Perdomo certainly didn't look happy between the third and fourth sets. But dropping a set against the United States will not pose any problems to the Cubans if they remain unbeaten but the set ratio will be the deciding factor when teams finish level.

"The United States was not playing with the regular team," Perdomo said. "But they were relaxed and made a good fight."