By Simon Evans

BEIJING (Reuters) - Cuba's Olympic women's volleyball team defeated the United States in straight sets on Monday.

Cuba, who won three Olympic gold medals in a row in 1992, 1996 and 2000 and were bronze medalists in Athens, crushed the Americans 25-15 in the first set.

The United States, coached by one of China's most popular former athletes, "Jenny" Ping Lang, battled hard in the second set but lost out 26-24 and Cuba took the pool A match in the third.

In pool B, European champions Italy picked up their second straight win with a comfortable three-set victory over Kazakhstan with Francesca Piccinini top scoring with 12 points.

Impressive Serbia had no trouble against Algeria as they won in straight sets and with a points margin of 75-40.

Later on Monday, Brazil take on Russia in pool B, while in pool A hosts China are up against Poland and Japan face Venezuela.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website "2008 Summer Olympics" at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)