SOLENT men's volleyball team are enjoying the National League Division 2 high life.

Following the thrill of promotion last season, they opened the new campaign by battling back for a 3-2 win over Brentwood Estonians at their new Sholing Technical College home.

It proved a productive summer for Solent. As well as being sponsored again by the Earl of Locksley pub in Sholing, they secured extra finance from the SGTV media company.

After some good performances in pre-season friendlies, Solent looked tight and nervous to start with against their Essex visitors and lost the first set 25-18 despite some excellent serving from James Kemp.

With swing hitters Dave Carr and Nik Hardy looking out of sorts, Solent also lost the second set 25-16 before the tide began to shift in the third. Brentford made a fight of it to 16-16, but Solent dug deep to close the set 25-19.

With player-coach Matt Cordrey-Gale bringing himself on to set and Dave Carr finding his range with some unstoppable hitting, the omens looked good in the fourth.

But Brentwood led 12-10 before strong serving from Kemp and Tim Nash steered Solent back on a winning course, 25-19. Both sides showed signs of nerves in the decider, but Solent captain Simon Trueick won four straight points on his serve to lead the way to victory.

This Saturday Solent travel to Bristol.