BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 7 : U.S. Victory Makes a World of Difference : Women’s volleyball: Americans upset CIS in five games to gain instant international credibility.

Resisting the example of their American brethren, the players on the U.S. women’s volleyball team shaved only their legs after an opening-round Olympic defeat by Japan.

Then, making a statement louder than any Norelco could, the U.S. women upset the Commonwealth of Independent States Friday night, 9-15, 17-15, 15-12, 4-15, 15-11, in a historic match that, in the words of Coach Terry Liskevych, “legitimizes what we’ve said all along--that we’re one of the best volleyball teams in the world.”

Before the CIS, there was the Soviet Union. And before Friday night, the U.S. women were winless in Olympic competition against the USSR (0-2), and the USSR was a combined 31-3 in the Olympics, having won gold medals in 1968, 1972, 1980 and 1988.

The Soviets had dominated the sport through 1988, losing the gold medal in the inaugural Olympic women’s volleyball tournament to Japan in Tokyo in 1964 before winning four of the next five.

But this is 1992, the Soviet Union has dissolved, and so, apparently, has the Russian stranglehold on women’s volleyball. The CIS placed third in the 1991 World Cup and is 0-2 in 1992 against the United States, a team that finished seventh in Seoul and failed to qualify for the medal round in the 1990 Goodwill Games.

“It’s been quite a ride since then,” said Liskevych, who retained his job after the ’88 debacle only through a vote of his players.

“But we finished third in the World Championships in 1990 and fourth in the World Cup in 1991. We have been saying that we’re one of the four best teams in the world. But we needed a match like tonight’s to prove it.”

Actually, it has been quite a ride since Wednesday, when the Americans lost to Japan in five games. The turning point was Lori Endicott’s churning stomach, which forced the United States’ starting setter out of the lineup during the decisive fourth and fifth games.

“Lori always has a hard time traveling,” Liskevych said. “The combination of the heat, being in a new country for eight days and just the excitement of the Olympics really took a toll on her. She woke up at 3:30 Wednesday morning and threw up six times before 9 a.m.”

But 48 hours worked wonders for Endicott, who was in the lineup Friday, making nice sets for hitters Caren Kemner and Kim and Elaina Oden. Endicott worked the ball around adeptly, keeping the CIS guessing and generally off balance.

Down, 6-4, in the second game, the Americans scored seven consecutive points to lead, 13-4, before holding on for a 17-15 decision. The United States also trailed in the fifth game, 11-9, but put together another six-point run, culminating in Kemner’s match-clinching spike through the block of Irina Smirnova and Elena Chebukina.

“We’re here to put USA volleyball back on the map,” said Kemner, the International Volleyball Federation’s female player of the year in 1991. “I’ve played seven years on the national team to get to this point.”

The CIS coaches took the defeat reasonably well, once Coach Nikolai Karpol had dispensed with the obligatory swipes at his players--”Chebukina and (Elena) Batukhtina did not play well at all,” and “(Svetlana) Korytova plays well enough, but only for herself.”

Karpol even laughed in the post-match news conference, enjoying his own little attempted joke.

“I am satisfied with the results completely,” he said with a grin. “And I have no envy to my colleague, Mr. Liskevych, because he will now play in the semifinals against the Cuban team. Our team, we can be either first or third (in Pool A), which means we cannot play against Cuba (the heavy favorite to win in Pool B)--of course, before the final, that is.

“So, for this reason, I am satisfied with the results tonight.”

Karpol then leaned back and cackled so hard, his face turned red.

Karpol also declared the tournament field wide open now, with the exception of the Spanish, who are included only because they are the hosts.

“I think there are seven teams more or less on the same level. . . ,” Karpol said. “Any team of these seven has the chance to be the champion, although I give just a small advantage to the Cuban team.”

Liskevych marveled at a whirlwind first week of competition. First the reversal of the U.S. men’s victory over Japan and the skin-headed protest, then the U.S. women’s first victory over the CIS.

“This is just what our sport needs,” Liskevych said. “It’s a great game; more people need to know about it. And the Olympics are the spectacle of the world, no question about it. It’s a good place to get noticed.”