In the men's tennis team's 6-1 win over Wheaton College on Thursday, it was Mike Vulfovich's '07 performance with a 102-degree fever that gave the Judges their extra inspiration, according to coach Ben Lamanna. "I didn't play nearly as well as I wanted to," said Vulfovich. "But under the conditions, I'm very happy to get out of here with a big win that my team needed."

Vulfovich won his No. 2 singles match against Wheaton's Brian Danishevsky 6-3, 6-2.

"Everyone on the team appreciates his performance," Jordan Bieber '07 said. "Now we know what his commitment to the team is, and that he really cares about the team."

No. 1 singles player Sam Jonas '07 agreed.

"He played amazing," Jonas said. "Mike has always played through a lot. Overall, he's one of the harder working guys on the team."

The win over Wheaton, the No. 9 team in the Northeast, marked the fifth win in a row for the Judges, who shut out the U.S. Coast Guard Academy 7-0 at home on March 20 and improved their record to 5-1.

"I told the guys, this is what they've wanted for a couple of years now,"Lamanna said. They've got it, and now they have to take responsibility for it and just go for it.

In the team's only loss, Jonas said he was not playing at full strength when he fell to Wheaton Junior Payum Payman 6-4, 6-2. Jonas started the match on a run of four games before dropping seven straight to Payman. Prior to the season, Jonas suffered a tear in his shoulder ligament, and said that his serving abilities are still hindered.

"I didn't play a bad match," said Jonas. "But it's tough to come up with wins against the top players in the region with basically no serve. I'm on the defensive on every single point."

Lamanna said he has been working with Jonas to strengthen his serve along with other aspects of his game.

"It's certainly not great for his confidence [to always be on the defensive], but he's winning a lot of good games," Lamanna said. "His weapon is his mental strength."

Bieber won his No. 3 match 6-4, 7-5, after missing last week's match against Clark University due to a calf injury.

"I thought I played up and down throughout the match," Bieber said. "I couldn't close the match on my serve in the last set, but my opponent folded and I lucked out."

In other singles matches, Scott Schulman '09 won his third straight match in the No. 4 face-off, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), and team captain Hart Comess-Daniels '06 won at No. 5, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Chris Hersel '06 sealed the match in No. 6 in 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

The Judges took the doubles point by winning two of the three matches. Jonas and Bieber lead the way in the No. 1 match, 8-4, and Vulfovich and Schulman took No. 2, 8-6. Comess-Daniels and Cliff Silverman '07 lost the No. 3 match, 8-6.

Lamanna used the confidence-building win against Wheaton as an example of what they have to do if they want to, "live the dream and make it to the NCAA's."

The team faces another tough opponent in Babson College Wednesday at 3 p.m.

"We have the toughest matches of our schedule coming up," Lamanna said.