JUNE 24 • 2021 | 69
SPORTS
S
asha Hartje loved playing tennis at
Emory University.
“It was amazing,
” the Detroit
Country Day School graduate and 2017
Jewish News Female High School Athlete of
the Year said about her four years at Emory,
a private school in Atlanta.
Hartje even has fond memories of the
women’s tennis season this spring, when she
played only one match for Emory because
of COVID-19 quarantines and a positive
test for COVID-19.
“I was completely asymptomatic when I
tested positive,
” she said. “I never lost my
sense of taste or smell or had any symp-
toms.
”
To make matters worse, Hartje had to
endure the nasal swab COVID-19 test
“where it feels like it’s touching your brain”
on her follow-up negative test.
It wasn’t an entirely lost season for Hartje,
even though she played only a No. 2 dou-
bles match April 20 vs. Brenau (Georgia),
winning 8-2 with partner Defne Olcay.
She was 20-11 in singles and 14-13 in
doubles in three previous years for Emory.
Hartje enjoyed the season because Emory
won the NCAA Division III national cham-
pionship for the first time since 2016 and
the eighth time in program history when
it defeated defending national champion
Wesleyan (Connecticut) 5-0 on May 26 in
Chattanooga, Tenn.
As one of Emory’s three captains, Hartje
did what she could to be a leader for the
Eagles, who finished 10-3 in an abbreviated
schedule.
“I was sad that I didn’t get to play because
I’m a competitor, but you can’t take some-
one’s spot in the lineup when you’re not
practicing,
” she said. “Everyone on the team
is equal. Everyone is out there busting their
butt.
”
To stay involved with the team and be
productive, Hartje took on tasks like putting
together music playlists for practices, com-
ing up with games for weekly team Zoom
calls, and organizing safe team outings like
strawberry picking.
After the season was over, she designed
the team’s national championship ring,
which has the word “Gratitude” imprinted
on the inside.
It wasn’t the first time the team turned
to Hartje for design help. She also designed
team apparel.
“Everyone trusted my opinion on design-
ing things,
” she said.
Emory didn’t have a season in spring
2020. The season was canceled because of
the COVID-19 pandemic before the Eagles
could play a match on their spring break
trip to Orlando, Fla.
While college women’s tennis teams play
in the fall, spring is their main season.
Hartje graduated from Emory in May
with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
While she loved playing tennis at Emory
after being a two-time high school girls ten-
nis state champion at Country Day, Hartje
also missed playing hockey.
So much that when she looked for a
school to pursue a master of business
administration degree, playing Division I
women’s hockey there was a prerequisite.
The 22-year-old defenseman from
Bloomfield Hills is headed to Long Island
University, a private school in Brooklyn,
N.Y.
Hartje has three years of eligibility
there — two years because of the COVID-
19 pandemic and one year because she
switched sports — but she plans to use only
two years because getting an M.B.A. is a
two-year program.
Long Island will play Yale at home
Nov. 23. Sasha’s sister Elle Hartje plays for
Division I Yale.
“Elle and I have never played against each
other in any sport,
” said Sasha, who was on
an age 14-and-under national champion
girls hockey team in 2014.
Sasha reached out to several schools
while looking to play Division I women’s
hockey.
She connected at Long Island with Coach
Rob Morgan, who recruited her to play
hockey at Yale while Sasha was at Country
Day. Morgan brought Elle Hartje, who also
attended Country Day, to Yale.
Sasha said Long Island is the perfect place
for her to return to the ice.
“Coach Morgan has known me and my
family for years, and he’s willing to take a
risk with me after I didn’t play competitive
hockey for four years,
” Sasha said.
“I’ve missed hockey so much. I can’t wait
to play again. I’ve really missed the fast-
paced team aspect of hockey. Tennis is a
team sport in college, but it’s also very much
an individual sport.
”
Goodbye,
Tennis
and Hello,
Hockey
Detroit Country Day
alum Sasha Hartje
switches sports as she
enters graduate school.
STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
YSABEL GONZALEZ RICO
Sasha Hartje had a 20-11 record in singles and a 15-13 record in doubles playing tennis for
Emory University.