OK here's what I have updated on the server to get my desired results (so far):
1) Changed the NIC in the vSphere Client for the server to be E1000. This card/driver returned the desired results no matter what the rest of the network was set at.
2) Changed from multiple CPUs to just one. I will be working with a resource to re-add the extra CPUs without sacrificing the performance gains with just the one CPU.
3) turned on jumbo frames (under the NIC) and selected the largest setting. Again the rest of my network is not configured for this but when turned off/disabled performance took a hit.

I will follow-up with CPU configuration info once the system is rebuilt for pre-production testing.

Thank you again for your suggestions!