NCAA Volleyball Team Refuses to Face Transgender Opponent, Gets Thrown Under the Bus by Its Own School
Say what you will about most woke, censorious institutes of higher education, at least they have some guts left. Guts in the wrong place, sure, but still guts.
That’s more than can be said for the University of Nevada, Reno.
First, the school said that its women’s volleyball team would be playing San Jose State University despite a controversy regarding a transgender player on the SJSU team. This was news to the team, which announced it would be the fifth team to boycott games against SJSU.
Well, fine, the university said. The game will still go on — regardless of whether any of their own players show up. But don’t worry, those of you who believe women’s sports is for women: The players that don’t play won’t be punished.
Way to throw your players under the bus while simultaneously taking absolutely no stand for the SJSU team or its defenders. Pusillanimity all around!
So first, in case you need a bit of catching up on this: After two schools in the Mountain West Conference abruptly canceled games against SJSU’s women’s volleyball team without giving a reason why, a report from this spring resurfaced, which stated that a male player born as Brayden Fleming had joined the women’s team as Blaire Fleming.
The media first claimed that this was either poorly sourced, transphobic, homophobic, sexist, and/or racist. (Take your pick, really.) Pretty much everyone has quietly acknowledged, at this point, that 1) Fleming was born as a man, 2) his former roommate, SJSU women’s volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser, has joined a lawsuit against the NCAA for allowing females’ Title IX rights to be violated by letting biological males play women’s sports, and 3) SJSU’s women’s volleyball team is winning an awful lot with Fleming on the team, especially given the team’s prior history.
So, earlier this month, when the story began breaking in earnest, conservative-leaning sports outlet OutKick asked the University of Nevada, Reno whether or not it planned to play its upcoming women’s volleyball match against SJSU.
“The University of Nevada volleyball team remains focused on its upcoming matches with UNLV and San Diego State and intends to play its remaining Mountain West schedule, including the match with San José State University on Oct. 26,” the school’s athletic department said in a statement.
“The University will continue to abide by the NCAA, Mountain West Conference and USA Volleyball rules and regulations, as well as the laws and Constitution of the State of Nevada.”
This stance came as a surprise to — you guessed it — the University of Nevada, Reno women’s volleyball team.
“We, the University of Nevada Reno women’s volleyball team, forfeit against San Jose State University and stand united in solidarity with the volleyball teams of Southern Utah University, Boise State University, the University of Wyoming, and Utah State University,” the team announced in a statement to OutKick, published Monday.
“We demand that our right to safety and fair competition on the court be upheld. We refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes.”
BREAKING: @OutKick has exclusively learned that University of Nevada volleyball players were upset when the school committed them to facing SJSU and transgender player Blaire Fleming without consulting the team.
Players voted and they will forfeit the scheduled match on Oct 26. pic.twitter.com/88zACAfXST
— Dan Zaksheske (@RealDanZak) October 14, 2024
“It’s definitely something that we’ve talked about as a team, but we’ve always come back to the fact that we believe that women deserve fair competition and our rights to opportunity,” team captain Sia Liilii said.
The school’s stance? Fine, but the match will still happen, no matter who shows up.
“On Oct. 13, 2024, the majority of members of the University of Nevada, Reno women’s volleyball team sent a statement to the University advising the institution that they were forfeiting its scheduled match with San Jose State University on Oct. 26, 2024,” a university representative said in an email reported by OutKick later on Monday.
“The players’ decision and statement were made independently, and without consultation with the University or the athletic department. The players’ decision also does not represent the position of the University.
“The University and its athletic programs are governed by the Nevada Constitution and Nevada law, which strictly protect equality of rights under the law, and that equality of rights shall not be denied or abridged by this state or any of its subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin,” the statement continued.
Major breaking news into @OutKick:
Despite the volleyball team voting to forfeit against SJSU and Blaire Fleming, the school says that it “intends to move forward with the match as scheduled” and “the players’ decision does not represent the position of the University.” pic.twitter.com/OztXx110ON
— Dan Zaksheske (@RealDanZak) October 14, 2024
“The University is also governed by federal law, as well as the rules and regulations of the NCAA and the Mountain West Conference, which include providing competition in an inclusive and supportive environment,” the statement noted.
“The University intends to move forward with the match as scheduled, and the players may choose not to participate in the match on the day of the contest. No players will be subject to any team disciplinary action for their decision not to participate in the match.”
This statement is so full of CYA evasiveness that you’re halfway surprised they didn’t append, “please don’t write anything bad about us” along with a smiley-face emoji at the end of the email.
So, who’s going to show up against SJSU on Oct. 26? Presumably not the women’s volleyball team, which makes it an interesting proposition as to whether or not SJSU is going to show up — along with a phalanx of protesters on both sides, probably.
As for who the Spartans will play if the Wolf Pack women don’t show, I have a creative way to hand the visitors a defeat. To quote the late comic Mitch Hedberg: “The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I’ll never be as good as a wall.”
Same thing works with volleyball, although I’m assuming that’s against the rules. But having men on the women’s team should also be under Title IX. Alas, it apparently isn’t.
As for the women of the Wolf Pack volleyball team, good for them for taking on their woke university. In this day and age, that takes guts. It shouldn’t, but it does.
University of Nevada Reno forfeits their Women’s Volleyball match against San Jose State reportedly due to safety concerns regarding SJSU’s transgender player Blaire Fleming. The school reportedly did so “without consulting” the team (from @ByChrisMurray) https://t.co/U6E4lvtDSG
— NIL vs NLI (@NILvsNLI) October 14, 2024
The same cannot be said for whatever gutless University of Nevada, Reno administrators decided to cower behind legalese to basically say that they’re going to go through with the game but have no intention of having anyone play it. It’s sad to say, but this is almost worse than them sacking the team for their stand. These people know what the right move is, and their team is making it. They lack the judgment to join them.
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