TOKYO, Japan — The Metro East has a new Olympian to celebrate!
Michelle Bartsch-Hackley and the United States women's volleyball team won its first gold medal in program history Sunday with a 25-21, 25-20, 25-14 victory over Brazil.
The top-ranked United States team battled through injuries in this year's tournament to earn the gold, going 7-1 in Tokyo, with the team's only loss coming against the Russian Olympic Committee. The team took home bronze in Rio and a silver in London in the past two Olympics.
Bartsch-Hackley, 31, is a native of Collinsville, Illinois and a graduate of Collinsville High School.
She played volleyball collegiately for the University of Illinois in Champaign and was inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020.
Bartsch-Hackley is an outside hitter, and was an alternate on the 2016 Olympic team in Rio.
Bartsch-Hackley starred as one of the premier players on Team USA during the tournament.