Michelle Bartsch's career began at Collinsville High School in Illinois, where she excelled at basketball, swimming and track and field. While playing for her high school, she joined the US youth selections, winning the gold medal at the US Under-18 Championship in 2006 and the North American Under-20 Championship in 2008. She was also awarded the title of Best Server in the competition.
Bartsch-Hackley was named an alternate to the U.S. volleyball team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She used this as motivation to earn a spot in the future Olympic Games, as she said in July 2021 “I think after being an alternate in 2016 I grew hungrier because I was so close at that time. The past few years I’ve tried to take every opportunity and use it to grow and improve.”[7]
In 2020, she was inducted into the University of Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame.[8]
In May 2021, she was named to the 18-player roster for the FIVB Volleyball Nations League tournament [9] played May 25-June 24 in Rimini, Italy. It was the only major international competition before the Tokyo Olympics in July. The U.S. team won gold and Bartsch-Hackley was named Best Outside Hitter and MVP.[10]
On June 7, 2021, US National Team head coach Karch Kiraly announced she would be part of the 12-player Olympic roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.[11] On August 8, 2021, she won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. women's volleyball team that defeated Brazil 3–0 in the final match.[12] She was named as co-"Best outside hitter" (along with teammate Jordan Larson) of the Olympics.[13]
On April 12, 2022, Bartsch-Hackley announced that she will take a break after the 2022 club season concludes and will leave volleyball indefinitely through at least January 2023. During this period, she will not participate in any competitions or sign with new clubs.[14]