The Midwest Conference released its 2017 Women's Tennis Preseason Coaches Poll on Tuesday and Lake Forest College was tied for second in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head women's tennis coaches. Each coach votes for the other nine schools in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (nine points for first, eight for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
The Foresters trailed only defending conference champion Grinnell College in the poll and was tied with St. Norbert College, the winner of the MWC Team Tournament.
Sophomore Leeza Bodnar, last year's MWC Newcomer of the Year, and junior Allison Watts are the Foresters' top returners. They combined for a 25-11 singles and doubles record in league play in 2016.
Under second-year head coach Raquel Allen, Lake Forest will open the season against the University of Dubuque and Concordia University Chicago on Saturday, August 26. The team will take on each of the other nine schools in the league during the fall and will close out the 2017 portion of its schedule at the MWC Individual Tournaments October 14-15 at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wisconsin.
The top four teams in the conference will qualify for the MWC Team Tournament, which will be also played in Madison, Wisconsin, on April 26. The Foresters have qualified for the event each of the last eight seasons and have been the runners-up four times in that span.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Grinnell College (7) | 70 |
| 2t | Lake Forest College (2) | 60 |
| 2t | St. Norbert College (1) | 60 |
| 4 | Cornell College | 56 |
| 5 | Lawrence University | 44 |
| 6 | Ripon College | 27 |
| 7 | Illinois College | 25 |
| 8t | Knox College | 24 |
| 8t | Monmouth College | 24 |
| 10 | Beloit College | 15 |