SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ Against all expectations, the Americans set their goals high for these Olympics. Just not high enough to reach over the lanky arms of the Russians.

The U.S. women's volleyball team saw its unlikely run end Thursday, but not without a fierce fight against a much-taller Russian team.

Led by the 6-foot-4 Elena Godina and 6-3 Liobov Chachkova, the Russians defeated the United States 25-15, 23-25, 25-15, 26-28, 15-8 to advance to the gold-medal match Saturday (Friday night EDT) against two-time defending champion Cuba.

The Americans, who weren't favored to make the semifinals much less push the powerful Russians to a fifth game, will play Brazil for the bronze.

"Coming out of here with any kind of medal is a bonus," said 19-year-old U.S. hitter and Salt Lake resident Logan Tom. "Bronze, gold, silver, whatever _ we're fighting our hearts out for it."

After staging a thrilling comeback to win the fourth game, the U.S. team ran out of steam in the fifth. The Americans actually led 6-5, but the Russians and their unyielding block took over.

Tara Cross-Battle got her roundhouse shot blocked to give Russia a 9-7 lead, and two points later she got swatted down again. With Russia leading 13-8, Chachkova powered a shot off the U.S. blockers for a score.

On match point, Danielle Scott, the Americans' most imposing player, was stuffed by Evgena Artamonova and Natalia Morozova.

Point, game, match.

"They're a very exceptional team. They have been for a very long time," said Cross-Battle, playing in her last Olympics at age 32. "I'm very proud of this team. A lot of people didn't think that we would get this far, but we knew that we could get this far."

As in their quarterfinal win over South Korea, the Americans stormed back from a seemingly hopeless deficit.

Trailing 21-16 in the fourth game, the United States crept back to tie it at 22-all, when Russia was called for touching the net. Russia made another silly error when, with match point at 25-24, Artamonova served into the net.

The Americans finally forged ahead at 27-26 and then won it when Tom fired a shot that went off the blockers' hands and behind the Russians.

"We had some moments of greatness," said U.S. blocker Kerri Walsh. "Our comeback in game four was amazing, and I think we're going to take that with us. We have to fight the entire time, we can't start at the end when it's getting down to crunch time. This is for a medal. We can't leave anything on the floor."

The U.S. team had rallied from 12-9 in the fifth game of an agonizingly close match against South Korea on Tuesday, winning the game 16-14.

"They were completely different styles of play," Haley said of South Korea and Russia. "It took us a while to adjust to the high set and very powerful attacks. I thought our team, though, did a good job of making the adjustments."

Scott, 27, took a leave from a Brazilian pro team to rejoin the national squad. And Cross-Battle postponed starting a family. Both were on the team that was favored to win the gold in Atlanta but finished seventh. Now they say a bronze would be a nice reward.

"We're not done yet," Scott said. "I think it would be awesome for volleyball. A bronze medal, it's a medal. It's top three, and would be a good finish for our program."

(Copyright 2000 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)