The real Cuba finally stood up to be counted on Sunday as they destroyed a surprisingly flat Australian side 3-0 for their first Pool B win of the FIVB Volleyball World Championship for Men in Fukuoka.
After their four-set loss to Brazil on the opening day, Cuba slumped to a 3-0 loss to Germany on Saturday. But captain Allen Pimienta vowed that "a proper" Cuban team would take the court against the Aussies.
And so it was as his team won 25-15, 25-19, 25-20 to improve their record to 1-2 after three matches.
Australia, who were battling all the way in defeats to Germany and France, fell to 0-3 and face an uphill task to qualify for the second round in Hiroshima.
Australia were forced to fight back from 3-0 down early in the first set but Cuba went into an 8-6 lead with Odelvys Dominico providing three spikes and captain Allen Pimienta spiking one and blocking two.
Igor Yudin gave Australia some valuable points but the Cubans put up some effective defence to deny the Aussies attacking opportunities.
Right winger attacker Paul Carroll brought Australia to within 11-9 but two winners from Pouto Corrales, on the right, and a left-wing hit from Michael Sanchez took Cuba to 13-9.
Cuba, whose defence was non-existent against Germany the day before, turned in some solid blocking moves, along with Sanchez and Dominico's spikes, to lead 16-11 at the second technical time out.
Australia eventually managed a winning spike through Daniel Howard to trail 19-13 but Cuba moved to 22-13 and Sanchez brought up set point at 24-15 with a winner from the left.
Dominico's simple tap gave Cuba the first set. It was not a typical Australian performance at this stage, with the Aussies having built a reputation in their losses to Germany and France as fighters.
For Cuba, it was a marked improvement from their inept showing against Germany on Saturday but the question was whether or not they could keep it going.
The answer depedned on how the Aussies would respond. As it turned out, Australia weren't able to life their game for the start of the second set.
They left the middle of the court exposed, allowing Dominico chances to give Cuba an 8-3 lead at the set's first TTO.
After Cuba went 10-3 up, Australia won the next three points to make it 10-6, forcing Cuba to call time out.
The Aussies took it up to 11-8 before Cuba restored their dominance to head into the second TTO 16-11 in front following Corrales smash from the right.
The Cubans were cruising at 23-19 when Corrales earned set point and Pimienta blocked to give his team a two-set lead.
The Aussies had to do something in what was so far their weakest performance of the tournament.
Indeed, Yudin gave Australia their first lead of the match at 3-2 in the third set and then Andrew Earl, in for captain Benjamin Hardy, sent two searing serves to put Australia 5-2 ahead.
A Luke Campbell spike and a Yudin block and spike gave Australia an 8-4 first TTO lead.
A service error and good work from Daudinot Portuondo helped Cuba fight back to 10-10, and Sanchez's block on Carroll meant the Aussies were again chasing the game.
Cuba then went on a surge for a 16-12 second time-out lead and it looked all over for Australia.
The battling qualities that saw them take a set off the French appeared to have been used up. Cuba wrapped up the match when Campbell sent his serve into the net.
