The 2021 Midwest Conference Women's Tennis Preseason Coaches Poll was released on Monday and Lake Forest College was second in the rankings.
Voting is done by the MWC head women's tennis coaches. Each coach votes for the other six teams in the league in order of predicted finish. Points are assigned in reverse order of voting (six points for first, five for second, etc.). Coaches may not vote for their own teams.
Lake Forest has been the league's runner-up each of the last two years after claiming the MWC title in the fall of 2018. The team's 26 points in the poll were just four fewer than top-ranked Grinnell College's total and the Foresters received one first-place vote while the Pioneers had four. Cornell College and Monmouth College were next with 19 and 15 points, respectively. Lawrence University and Illinois College tied for fifth with 13 points and Ripon College rounded out the field with 10.
The Foresters return MJ Campos, Margaret Bugnacki, and Natalia Leite from a lineup that finished first in the MWC North Division standings in the spring and fell to Grinnell in the league's championship match. Katie Wegrecki is also back from the 2019-20 squad.
Under second-year head coach Scot Reinhart, Lake Forest will open the 2021-22 season with dual matches against Edgewood College and host Wheaton College on Saturday, September 4. The Foresters will begin conference play two weeks later against visiting Monmouth College and Illinois College. The team's regular season fall schedule includes a total of six league and five non-conference dual matches and the Foresters will also compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Tournament in Kalamazoo, Michigan, September 24-25.
The top four teams in the league standings will earn spots in the MWC Tournament, which will be played at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday, October 15. The winner of the event will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, which is played in May. The rest of the conference will joined the top four teams in Madison for the MWC Individual Tournaments October 16-17.
Lake Forest will also travel to Hilton Head, South Carolina, for Spring Break and play additional dual matches in March and April.
| PLACE | TEAM (First Place Votes) | POINTS |
| 1 | Grinnell College (5) | 30 |
| 2 | Lake Forest College (1) | 26 |
| 3 | Cornell College | 19 |
| 4 | Monmouth College | 15 |
| 5t | Lawrence University | 13 |
| 5t | Illinois College | 13 |
| 7 | Ripon College | 10 |