THERE were no early Christmas presents for Solent men's National League Volleyball team as they were defeated 3-0 by Oxford Students and then 3-1 by Bridgend in their last match before the holidays.

Solent were positive for Sunday's matches with the return of outside hitter Stuart Snow and the arrival of new recruit Darren Sampson, an ex-Division One player from Portsmouth.

Against Oxford Students the game started fairly evenly. Solent were getting used to their new line-up and were in touch at 12-10. Then a lapse in concentration gave five quick points to Oxford and Solent never recovered losing the set 25-18.

In the second set, the pattern was very similar as Solent failed to get into top gear as Oxford took the set 25-18.

Solent coach Ashley Cullen changed the line-up in the third set, but the south coast side started badly slumping to 5-1 after failing to deal with the Oxford serving.

They managed to stay in touch at 10-7, but then a few more mistakes on reception gave a run of points to Oxford and the Solent heads went down. From 16-8 Oxford kept their composure to take the set 25-17 and a 3-0 win.

Solent brought on Ian Coombs for the Bridgend game and that had an immediate impact as they took an 14-10 early lead.

Despite a slight lapse, Solent kept working well to see out the set 25-22, and then forge ahead 8-1 in the second.

Sadly, following a Bridgend time-out, complacency crept in and Solent let their opponents back into the game with lax receiving, allowing the Welsh side to take the set 25-23.

In the third, Solent did well to lift their game and were leading 8-5 but Bridgend fought hard and the scores stayed close.

At 19-19 there was all to play, but it was the Welsh team who held the nerve to take the set 25-22.

In the fourth set, Solent's heads dropped and the team lost their shape. Bridgend put on runs of points to lead 15-5 and after their final time-out Solent just could not lift their game to lose 25-15 and lose the match 3-1.