BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 14 : Now, at Least, Americans Worth Bronzing : Women’s volleyball: U.S. team gets its first medal since 1984 Games when Kemner leads a sweep of Brazil for third-place finish.

It took eight years and seven match points for players in the U.S. women’s volleyball program to start feeling good about themselves again.

The U.S. women, back on the court in the huge Palau Sant Jordi less than 24 hours after playing a clunker of a semifinal against Cuba, beat Brazil on Friday afternoon for the Olympic bronze medal. The scores were 15-8, 15-6, 15-13, and the general feelings among the Americans were satisfaction and relief.

“This is a class group,” Coach Terry Liskevych said. “We have come a long ways, from the days of being in the dumps on a world level in 1985, to starting to turn it around in 1990, to now. Today, we showed at what level we can play.”

That was the satisfaction part, well documented by now about a program that was left something of an orphan by Coach Arie Selinger after the veteran U.S. women’s team won a silver medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and then broke up. For Liskevych, it has been a long, slow rebuilding process--the team was seventh at the ’88 Olympics in Seoul--and Friday’s final moment was truly something to be bronzed.

After six failed match points at 14-13, Brazil’s Hilma Caldiera ticked the net on a serve attempt, giving the U.S. sideout No. 7 for match point. The Brazilian women returned serve and set up their star player, Ana Moser, for a kill. But blockers Caren Kemner and Elaina Oden went up with her and spanked the ball back into the Brazilian’s court.

Finally, the long odyssey for Liskevych and his team was over. And although bronze was not exactly the medal they had wanted, after Thursday’s night’s still-vivid loss, it was just fine.

“If we hadn’t gotten the bronze today, I’d be thinking about that Cuba game last night for the rest of my life,” Kemner said. “Better to have a bronze medal than nothing. I can look myself in the mirror and see it around my neck.”

Kemner, who was named the female player of the year by the International Volleyball Federation for 1991 and was honored at a special FIVB dinner here July 23, still has hopes of seeing an Olympic gold as well as the bronze in that mirror someday. She said that even though she had just signed a contract to play professional volleyball in Italy, she still hopes to return to the national team and play in the 1996 Olympics at Atlanta.

“If my old bones quit creaking, I hope to be back in 1994 or ‘95,” said Kemner, 27. “My heart is still with this program and the people on this team.”

After her poor play against the Cubans, however, she wasn’t sure the people on this team were with her.

“I was really disappointed in myself last night,” Kemner said. “I hadn’t played that badly in such a long time. I had to throw away my contact lenses because they were all smudged from crying.

“My family was great. I called them and they just let me cry. And my teammates were great. Kim Oden came into my room last night and said everybody was with me. They stuck with me and we were together. And that’s why we won today.”

Kim Oden, Elaina’s older sister, said: “I knew Caren would play a good game today. She doesn’t play a lot of off games in a row.”

Elaina Oden had 23 kills, Paula Weishoff 18 and Kemner 17.

Weishoff, of Torrance, was named the Olympic tournament’s outstanding player by officials and reporters. She is 30, a former USC star and was a member of the ’84 silver-medal team.

“In 1984, it was a great feeling winning the silver,” she said. “And it was great to be able to come back and compete in the Olympics. I guess I’m lucky to have two chances and have two medals. I may not have a gold, but I have a heart of gold.”

Said Liskevych: “There have been skeptics all along,” he said. “Even in our own press, they vilify us. But we did this in the big show. We had a good tournament, and both losses were winnable games. We came here to win a medal, and it is important for us to be in contention all the way.”

Volleyball Medalists

* WOMEN

GOLD: Cuba

SILVER: CIS

BRONZE: United States