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.

