Over 100 fans filled the MSU Indoor Tennis facility for the 2015 opener versus the University of Toledo Rockets. And the men did not disappoint fans, as they swept Toledo overall, 7-0.

The men had one change on today’s match. Junior Mac Roy was day-to-day in the week, as he had an 104 degree fever earlier in the week, according to head coach Gene Orlando. Roy was kept out of doubles to save his stamina for the singles match and freshman Jasper Koenen took his place.

The change did not matter, as Koenen and Zade won No. 3 doubles easily, 6-1, to kick off the day.

“Jasper did a great job. He’s such a good ball striker, wow,” assistant coach Damian Hume said. “Once he starts going, he’s going. And he’s got a fire about him, which is awesome. He doesn’t take anything and he’s like ‘I’m going to kick your butt’ which is awesome. And the doubles did good. “

Koenen knew that stepping in as freshman was important to start 2015.

“We want to win it really bad for the team and we both did a really good job,” Koenen said. “We’re making a statement, winning our matches and cheering our team on to victory each time.”

Team Linders began its doubles match down 2-0. But Linders’ partner Brett Forman got the upper hand in a crucial rally to tie the match up at 2-2.

They did not end up finishing since Jadun and Dube won their doubles match, 6-2.

The Spartans won their doubles point for the day and started strong.

In singles, there were tight matches in the first sets. Four of the six singles matches were at 3-2 with MSU having the slight edge. Later, three of the six matches were at 4-4 in the first set.

But the Spartans won three of the four tight matches. The only first set loss was Mac Roy, which was the first set lost since the Spartans played No. 8 Georgia two weeks ago.

Frustration began to mount for the Rockets, as Linders’ opponent threw his racket against the net after dropping a few crucial games in the set.

Jadun continued his consistency, wining his singles match 6-1, 6-2, which clinched the first singles victory for MSU on the day.

Freshman Jasper Koenen stepped in strong and won his singles match 6-2, 6-3. Michael Dube followed suit by winning 6-4, 6-3 and Brett Forman won 7-5, 6-0 in a dominating fashion.

Mac Roy and Gjis Linders both won two sets to one, as MSU blanked Toledo.

Head coach Gene Orlando was impressed with the win.

“We took it from them and they were in the game for like 20 minutes,” he said. “Toledo took it to us and we take their best punch every single time we play. We were down in some spots and even if we were down, we found ways to win.”

“This early for that to happen, it’s important,” he added.

MSU now prepares for its homecoming with Detroit head coach and former Spartan, Grant Asher, tonight at 6 p.m.

Injury Update

The men were without all-big ten second team player, John Patrick Mullane and freshman Alex Kim. Mullane is day-to-day with tendinitis in his shoulder and Kim dropped a weight on his foot and is estimated to miss six to eight weeks.

Mac Roy was battling sickness, so he did not play his usual doubles match. But he did have an incredible come-from-behind win in the singles match, at one point being down 3-0.

Alex Scharg is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports.

Photo: Scott Wasserman