Clawson defeated Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes in four sets (25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23) on Friday in its first game of the season.

Charlie Verner led the Trojans with 17 kills and 14 digs. Aliyah Vesper had 13 kills, nine digs and two aces, and Renata Carlesimo had 33 assists and nine digs.

Ava LaMotte and Natty Lertkasem each had 12 digs and two aces. Jillian Liford and Gabrielle Kalcec each had three blocks.

Clawson trailed by as many as five points in the first set, but battled back to a 22-22 tie. Vesper put together back-to-back kills for the 24-22 lead, and after a Lady of the Lakes sideout, she closed the set with a tip kill to give Clawson the one set advantage.

The Trojans took that momentum into the second set, leading 12-7 early on. The two teams would battle to another late tie at 19-19, but Verner had nine of her 17 kills in the second stanza to help Clawson take the 2-0 lead.

It looked as if Clawson was about to wrap things up in three sets, but could not hold onto its 21-12 lead. Our Lady of the Lakes rallied, winning 13 of the last 14 points to win the third set 25-22.

Another close set followed, but the Trojan defense was relentless. Clawson tallied 17 total digs against a hard-hitting Our Lady of the Lakes offense, and closed out another close set to win the match 3-1.

Clawson is 1-0-0 overall.