MOUNT VERNON – Third-year coach Trent Schneider's Rams have earned the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Conference Men's Tennis Team Automatic Qualifying Tournament, kicking off a three-day Championships weekend at Nielsen Tennis Stadium, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 
 
Cornell (4-2 MWC) faces No. 2 seed Lake Forest (5-1 MWC) in a semifinal dual at 10 a.m. Friday. Top-seeded and 19-time defending champion Grinnell (6-0 MWC) plays Lawrence (3-3 MWC) in Friday's other semifinal.
 
The semifinal winners meet in the championship Friday afternoon for the MWC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
 
The Rams qualified for the MWC Tournament for the fifth consecutive season it has been contested. This is Cornell's second straight appearance as the No. 3 seed. 
 
Cornell (17-7 overall) has tied a program-best mark for dual wins in a season, coming off an 8-1 win over Ripon, and 6-3 decision of Lawrence this past weekend. The Rams dropped a 9-0 decision to Lake Forest on April 13.
 
Fans can follow live scoring for all three duals Friday.
 
The MWC Individual Championships get underway at 9 a.m. Saturday with two rounds of singles and one round of doubles. The Championships resume at 9 a.m. Sunday. Live scoring is available for all individual matches.  
 
Cornell's individuals are seeded No. 3 in three of the singles flights, and all of the doubles flights. The Rams' lineup features seniors Alexander Hadler-Strumlauf (3-3 MWC) and Federico Polidori (2-2) at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively, and also partnering at No. 1 doubles (4-2). Hadler-Strumlauf/Polidori enter the No. 1 doubles bracket as the defending champions, and are currently listed in consideration in the most recent NCAA Region VII Doubles rankings. 
 
Hadler-Strumlauf is approaching the 40-win mark for the season, entering with a 38-17 overall record. Polidori has totaled 27 victories.
 
Cornell rounds out its singles entries with first-year Trent Devore (3-2) at No. 3, sophomore Zachary Ong (2-2) at No. 4, first-year Mills Arnold (2-3) at No. 5, and junior Edwin Holyoake (2-4) at No. 6. Devore and Ong are seeded third in their respective singles draws, while Arnold and Holyoake are seeded fifth and fourth in their singles brackets. Devore has tallied the second-most wins this season with a 35-18 overall mark. 

Devore/Arnold (4-1) will pair at No. 2 doubles, while Ong/August Krahn (3-2) are at No. 3 doubles. Both teams are seeded third.