The Midwest Conference released its 2020 Men's Tennis Preseason Coaches Poll on Monday and Lake Forest College was third in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head men's tennis coaches. Each coach votes for the other eight schools in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (eight points for first, seven for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
With 38 points, the Foresters trailed only Lawrence University (41) and defending conference champion Grinnell College (48) in the poll. Grinnell received six of the seven first-place votes while Lawrence had the other.
Senior Chase Garber is Lake Forest's top returning player from last year. He posted a 25-11 record in singles and doubles combined and reached the semifinals at #4 singles and the final at #2 doubles during the 2019 MWC Individal Tournaments.
The Foresters opened the spring with a 5-4 loss to Principia College on Saturday. Under fourth-year head coach Raquel Vescovi, the team will begin league play at Grinnell and Cornell College on March 28 and will complete its 8-match conference schedule on April 19. The top four teams in the standings will compete in the MWC Tournament at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 24 and the MWC Individual Tournaments will be played the next two days at the same location.
Lake Forest was 12-10 overall and 6-2 in the conference last year, qualifying for the MWC Tournament for the fifth year in a row.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Grinnell College (6) | 48 |
| 2 | Lawrence University (1) | 41 |
| 3 | Lake Forest College | 38 |
| 4 | Cornell College | 32 |
| 5t | St. Norbert College | 29 |
| 5t | Monmouth College | 29 |
| 7 | Illinois College | 14 |
| 8 | Ripon College | 12 |
| 9 | Knox College | 9 |