Perdomo said he thought Cuba would improve in the third match of the series and, unlike the two wins in the previous legs in Fuzhou and Jinjiang, the Chinese team overcame some dicey moments as they fought back from 2-1 down to beat the improving Cubans 25-23, 19-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-11 in almost two hours.

In front of a thunderous crowd at the 6,000-capacity Xiamen's Jimei Sports Center, the new-look home team never looked as good as they were in their first two victories.

After claiming a shaky opening set 25-23, the Chinese girls dropped the next two sets 25-19 and 25-23. Fortunately, China kept cool to take the fourth set 25-18 and went on to win an error-studded tiebreak 15-11 following a Xu Yunli block.

To shape up the Olympic squad, China's head coach Chen Zhonghe fielded a number of replacements including wing spiker Li Juan, teenage setter Wei Qiuyue, middle blockers Xu Yunli and Ma Yunwen, and opposite Liu Yanan.

Team captain Feng Kun, who has just returned from a leg injury sidelining her in 2007, was rested the whole match, while comeback middle blocker Zhao Ruirui, out of action for three and a half years because of a knee injury, only played in the first two sets.

"I sent many young players onto the court, they did a good job, although some of them are under-performing," said Chen. "Anyway the result was satisfactory; I need time and competition to groom my line-up for the Olympics. I hope the matches can help us expose the weak points and improve."

The series will be suspended for two days' break before the rivalry is resumed in Zhejiang's Jiande, followed by the last two matches in Shaoxing and Hangzhou.