The 2022 Midwest Conference Women's Tennis Preseason Coaches Poll was released on Thursday 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 three years after claiming the MWC title in the fall of 2018. The team's 31 points in the poll were just five fewer than top-ranked Grinnell College's total and the Foresters received one first-place vote while the Pioneers had five. Lawrence University and Cornell College were next with 24 and 22 points, respectively. Ripon College, Illinois College, and Monmouth College rounded out the field with 17, 11, and 6 points, respectively.
Lake Forest returns its top three singles players from 2021-22 in juniors Maria Jose Campos and Margaret Bugnacki and sophomore Sara Lopez. They helped lead the team to an overall record of 11-7 and a league mark of 5-1. The Foresters advanced to the final of the four-team MWC Tournament, a feat they have accomplished each of the last four times the event was held.
Under third-year head coach Scot Reinhart, Lake Forest will open the season this Saturday at the North Central Invitational and the Foresters will begin conference play two weeks later against visiting Cornell College. The team's regular season fall schedule includes a total of six league and three non-conference dual matches and the Foresters will also compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Tournament in St. Louis.
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 14. 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 15-16.
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) | 36 |
| 2 | Lake Forest College (1) | 31 |
| 3 | Lawrence University | 24 |
| 4 | Cornell College | 22 |
| 5 | Ripon College | 17 |
| 6 | Illinois College | 11 |
| 7 | Monmouth College | 6 |
