Nevada volleyball loses game against San Jose State after players refuse to compete over trans inclusion issues

The University of Nevada, Reno officially announced Friday that its women's volleyball team will forfeit its game against San Jose State on Saturday.

Nevada becomes the fifth team to forfeit its game against San Jose State as an ongoing national controversy over a transgender player on the team continues and another player is embroiled in a lawsuit because he was never told that the player was a biological male is, the lawsuit says.

Citing that there were not enough players to play in the game, Nevada forfeited after its players expressed a desire and intention not to play San Jose State.

“Due to an insufficient number of players to compete, the University of Nevada women's volleyball team will not play its scheduled Mountain West Conference game at San Jose State on Saturday, October 26. “Per Mountain West Conference policy, the game will be recorded as a conference loss for Nevada,” Nevada announced in a statement early Friday morning.

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Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown (left) poses with Nevada Rep. Sia Liilii (center right) and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. (Sam Brown campaign)

San Jose State responded to the loss in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Our athletes all adhere to NCAA and Mountain West Conference guidelines and are eligible to play under the rules of those organizations. “We will continue to take measures to prioritize the health and safety of our students as they pursue their deserved opportunities to compete,” the statement read.

Nevada players, including team captain Sia Liillii, spoke out against the idea of ​​facing a transgender player in the weeks leading up to the cancellation, having voted in favor of the waiver on Oct. 14. The players even went so far as to arrange a press conference alongside OutKick staffer and female athlete activist Riley Gaines to coincide with Saturday's game.

However, Nevada would not officially abandon the game until Friday morning, citing state law.

“Due to several factors, the university made the decision not to declare a forfeiture and to host the game as planned. As a public university, “the university is legally prohibited by Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution and other laws and regulations from declaring a forfeiture for reasons related to gender identity or gender expression,” a Nevada spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital.

The Nevada State Constitution was revised in 2022 when Nevada voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of protections. Nevada state Sen. Pat Spearman, a North Las Vegas Democrat who co-sponsored the bill to get it on the ballot, said the law helped transgender people maintain their identity.

On Tuesday, both Nevada and San Jose State announced that the game would be moved from Nevada's campus in Reno to San Jose State's campus in the Bay Area in California, claiming the location change was “in the best interest of both programs and the welfare team”. consisting of student-athletes, coaches, athletic staff and spectators.”

However, San Jose State would have had to be at the game's venue to secure a losing victory if no Nevada players ended up playing. By moving the venue to the San Jose State campus, the Spartan players would not have to travel to Nevada to secure the lost win. This change allows San Jose State to claim a forfeit win if no player from Nevada decides to play without leaving their home state.

Now that the game is officially lost, no one has to travel anymore.

MEGAN RAPINOE CALLS FOR PROTECTION FOR TRANS PEOPLE AHEAD OF THE ELECTION

Left to right: San Jose State setter Brooke Slusser celebrates after playing with libero Randilyn Reeves, outside hitter Blaire Fleming and libero Alessia Buffagni in the first set of an NCAA college volleyball game against Colorado State on Thursday, April 3. October, scored a point. 2024, in Fort Collins, Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Nevada joins Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State, all of which have officially forfeited their scheduled games against San Jose State.

San Jose State player Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit led by OutKick host and former college swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA over its gender identity policies. Slusser joined this lawsuit because she claims she was forced to share a court, a locker room and even a room on overnight trips with teammate Blaire Fleming without ever being told that Fleming was a biological male.

Security concerns and threats against San Jose State players have made traveling to games a risky endeavor for the Lady Spartans. San Jose State previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that police protection was assigned to the team shortly after Southern Utah received the first news of an opponent's loss and announced it would not play its game against the Spartans in September.

“One of my teammates got a DM basically saying that she and then my team had to keep their distance from me on game day against Colorado State because it wasn't going to be a good situation for me and stuff. “My team had to keep their distance hold,” Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “They had to keep their distance from me during the game because something would happen to me.”

“This was the first physical threat where we could clearly see that they intended to cause physical harm to one of us.”

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University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after finishing tied in the 200 freestyle final at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18, 2022 at McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia took 5th place. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

A survey in June carried out by NORC at the University of Chicago asked respondents to consider whether transgender athletes of both sexes should be allowed to participate in sports leagues that correspond to their preferred gender identity rather than their biological sex.

65 percent answered that this should either never or only rarely be allowed. When respondents were asked specifically about adult transgender athletes competing on women's sports teams, 69% disagreed.

The United Nations published study results saying nearly 900 biological women were left off the podium because they were beaten by transgender athletes.

The study entitled “Violence against women and girls in sportsAccording to information received as of March 30, more than 600 athletes did not win medals in more than 400 competitions in 29 different sports, bringing the total to over 890 medals.

“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-gender category has resulted in more female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against men,” the report said.

Former President Donald Trump even recently spoke out in favor of a ban in a town hall event on Fox News.

“We won’t let it happen,” Trump said on the subject. “We stop it, we stop it, we absolutely stop it. We can’t have it.”

“They just ban it. The president forbids it. They don't allow it. It’s not a big deal.”

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