Both tennis teams saw changes at the top of their lineups this weekend, and while the strategy worked in one match for the men, it failed in both matchups for the women.After 2005 University Athletic Association Player of the Year Sam Jonas '07 and Mike Vulfovich '07 switched places on the singles ladder, the men's team split two matches Saturday, defeating Connecticut College 9-0 Sunday before falling to No. 2 Middlebury College 9-0.

On the women's side, the return of Colleen Donnelly '08 to the No. 1 singles spot wasn't enough to avoid an 8-1 loss to New York University Saturday and a 9-0 loss to No. 9 Middlebury College Sunday.

The men are now 1-3 in the spring season, while the women, with a five-game losing streak dating back to the fall season, are now 0-2 on the spring.

A week after missing the team's opening match against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Vulfovich, who traditionally plays No. 2 singles for the men, switched places with Jonas, who has been a mainstay at No. 1 singles since his breakout 2005 University Athletic Association Player of the Year campaign. Coach Ben Lamanna said the switch was not permanent.

"It's nothing to Sam's detriment. We just like to switch it up every once in a while to keep people motivated," he said.

Against Connecticut College, Vulfovich managed to come back and defeat Camels sophomore David Kellogg 6-7, 6-1 (11-9).

After leading throughout the first set, Vulfovich lost in a tiebreaker, but rebounded to win the second set and close out Kellogg with an inside-out forehand return in the third-set tiebreaker.

"There was no way that [Kellogg] was going to be able to keep up the level of play he was playing at, so I was confident that if I kept playing my game, he would break down," Vulfovich said.

The men's team won all three doubles matches prior to Vulfovich's victory. Jonas and Vulfovich defeated Kellogg and junior Ted McAusher in No. 1 doubles 8-2 Scott Schulman '09 and Alex Neystat '10 vanquished seniors Ned Minevitz and Ben Sherman in No. 2 doubles 9-8 (0), and Jordan Bieber '07 and Adam Sher '07 beat senior Andrew Meyer and sophomore Andrew?Watts in No. 3 doubles 8-3.

The Judges didn't have it as easy against Middlebury, last year's NCAA runner up. After losing all three doubles matches, Vulfovich fought hard, but eventually succumbed to senior Alex Scott, the fourth-ranked player in Division III.

"[Scott's] got a huge game," Vulfovich said.

"There were a lot of close games, but every time he needed to come up with a big shot, he did."

Despite being moved up to No. 1 singles, Vulfovich said the lineup switch did not affect his play.

"I just did the same things I always do," Vulfovich said.

"I don't care if I'm playing No. 6, No. 7 or No. 1 [singles]. I don't try to hit the ball harder just because I'm playing No. 1."

The lineup switch didn't benefit Jonas either, as he fell to Middlebury senior George Mayer 6-2 6-3. Sher came closest to victory at No. 3 singles, retiring down 4-2 in the third set after splitting the first two with Middlebury freshman Andrew Lee.

In her first match since studying abroad in the fall season, Donnelly scored the lone victory for the women this weekend, defeating New York University sophomore Stephanie Tu 6-3 6-4.

"I was able to really get up on my opponent early," Donnelly said. "I was really pumped."

But the rest of the team couldn't match Donnelly's intensity, losing all eight of its other matches. Three early losses by the doubles teams put the Judges in an early hole, and Ana Katz '07 was the only player to even push her opponent to a third set in the singles competition.

"We need to find [doubles] parings that we'll be confident in all year, and we didn't get much closer to that this weekend," Lamanna said.

In Sunday's loss to Middlebury College, Donnelly wasn't able to keep her momentum going, as she didn't win a single game in her match against senior Amy Roche.

The men's team will face Clark University on the road Saturday at 1 p.m. and then play home Sunday at 2:30 p.m. against Bates College, while the women host Bates Sunday at 11 a.m.