The Nevada women’s volleyball team will forfeit its future match against San Jose State, set for Oct. 26 at home.
This comes just 11 days after Nevada Athletics committed to playing the match. The department released a statement after four schools, three of which being Mountain West programs Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State, also forfeited amid the news that the Spartans have a transgender player on the team.
“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 October 26,” Nevada Athletics said. “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.”
However, a report from OutKick.com, a sports website dedicated to “Questioning the consensus and exposing the destructive nature of “woke” activism” per its about us section, stated that the decision to forfeit was made by the players, not the department. Nevada Athletics declined to comment.
The players released the following statement through the website.
“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 wrote in an exclusive statement to OutKick. “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.”
Sia Liilii, Nevada senior and co-captain, told OutKick the team was extremely frustrated that the athletics department committed to the match without talking with the team first.
“The school released that statement without consulting our team at all,” Liilii told OutKick. “We were pretty upset that we were not made aware that a statement was going to come out. We were actually in Las Vegas preparing for our match against UNLV, our in-state rival. It was a really frustrating time, especially because we were about to go and play a big game.”
Liilii said the team voted not to play. She also told OutKick “We decided that we’re going to stand in solidarity with other teams that have already forfeited and that we wouldn’t participate in a game that advances sex-based discrimination or injustice against female athletes.”
With the forfeit, Nevada will take a loss. The team is currently 10-8, coming off a 3-1 win over New Mexico on Oct. 12.
San Jose State is currently 9-3, with a 4-3 conference record. Those four conference wins are via forfeit. Blaire Fleming, San Jose State outside hitter, is the alleged transgender athlete and has been with the program since 2022.
The NCAA changed its rules regarding transgender athletes in 2022, stating that a transgender woman athlete must complete a full calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment before playing for a women’s team.
The updated NCAA rule states “A trans female (MTF) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication for gender dysphoria for the purposes of NCAA competition may continue to compete on a men’s team but may not compete on a women’s team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment.”
Dominic Gutierrez can be reached via email do**************@*nr.edu or via X @d_m_g_16
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