The University of Nevada put out a statement on Monday stating it will still plan to play against San Jose State in its home match on Oct. 26 despite the players voting against playing per a report from Nevada Sports Net. This comes hours after it was reported by OutKick that the players had voted to forfeit the match.
Nevada, which previously announced it was committed to playing against the Spartans on Oct. 5, said in the statement to NSN that the players sent in a statement saying they would be forfeiting the match against San Jose State, which was independent from both the university and athletic department. Nevada also stated that the players’ decision “…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,” Nevada representatives said in the statement. “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.”
While Nevada will be honoring its commitment, it did state that players may choose to opt-out of participating in the match and will not be punished if they do so.
In the report from OutKick, Sia Liilii, Nevada senior outside hitter and co-captain, voiced the team’s frustration in not being in the conversations regarding whether or not the match would be played.
“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.”
The full statement from the University can be found on the NSN website.
Derek Raridon can be reached via email draridon@unr.edu or via X @TheBigCountry14
