Volleyball match mired in transgender controversy gets last-minute location change

An upcoming controversial NCAA women’s volleyball match will move its location over 200 miles from Reno, Nevada, to the Bay Area in California. 

San Jose State’s upcoming game against the University of Nevada has been at the center of a national debate on transgender inclusion in women’s sports. And now, a match that was previously going to be played on Nevada’s home campus will be played at San Jose’s Yosh Uchida Hall. 

“The Mountain West Conference women’s volleyball match between Nevada and San José State University scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 26, has been moved from Reno, Nevada, to San José, California. The decision to move the location of the match has been made in the best interest of both programs and the well-being of the student-athletes, coaches, athletic staff and spectators. The decision has been made with the approval of the Mountain West Conference,” read a joint statement that was obtained by Fox News Digital from both San Jose State and Nevada’s spokespeople.

There is no guarantee that this match will even be played. 

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Nevada Wolf Pack women’s volleyball players with Sam Brown and Tulsi Gabbard. (Sam Brown Campaign)

Nevada players have expressed their desire not to play the match, both privately to their athletic director and publicly to the press. San Jose State has a player that has been identified as transgender, and another player engaged in a lawsuit against the NCAA over never being informed that her teammate was a biological male. But the program has not forfeited the match officially, citing state law.

San Jose State would still need to be at the site of the match, however, in order to receive a forfeit victory if no Nevada players end up playing. By moving the site of the match to the San Jose State campus, then the Spartan players wouldn’t have to make the trip to Nevada in order to secure the forfeit victory. So by making this change, San Jose State will get to claim a forfeited victory if no Nevada players choose to play, without leaving their home state. 

Meanwhile, Nevada players will be just two days removed from a trip to Boise State in Idaho. OutKick has learned that Wolf Pack will now be traveling to San Jose State right after their match in Idaho due to the location change, despite the fact that players have expressed their intent not to play San Jose State. 

Four other opposing programs forfeited their matches against the Spartans amid the ongoing controversy. Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State all officially forfeited their scheduled games against San Jose State. By officially forfeiting those matches, unlike Nevada, no logistical changes were necessary to be made, and San Jose State got the forfeit victory without having to go anywhere. 

Meanwhile, security concerns and threats against San Jose State players have made traveling for matches a high-risk endeavor for the lady Spartans. San Jose State previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that police protection was assigned to the team, shortly after getting the first news of an opponent forfeiting, when Southern Utah announced it would not play its match against the Spartans in September.

San Jose State player Brooke Slusser has joined a lawsuit headed by OutKick host and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA due to its policies on gender identity. Slusser joined this lawsuit because she claims that she has had to share a court, locker room and even a room on overnight trips with her teammate Blaire Fleming without having ever been told that Fleming was a biological male. 

Slusser previously told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that this has resulted in threats against her.

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

“This was the first physical threat when we could easily see that they wanted to physically harm one of us.”

INSIDE SAN JOSE STATE’S POLICE BATTLE TO PROTECT WOMEN’S ATHLETES THREATENED BY A TRANSGENDER CULTURE WAR

Colorado State University police behind the San Jose State University Spartans bench monitor Moby Arena during an NCAA Mountain West women’s volleyball game between the Spartans and the Colorado State Rams in Fort Collins, Colo., on Thursday, Oct. 03, 2024. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

This resulted in a heavy police presence during the Spartan’s game at Colorado State on Oct. 3, as San Jose State has confirmed to Fox News Digital it has had to coordinate police protection for its players with other universities during away games. 

During a game against Air Force Academy this past weekend, security at Cadet East Gym at the Air Force campus in Colorado was so alert, that it even resulted in controversial footage of an alleged interaction between a fan and a security guard. 

A fan who attended the game alleged that the Air Force security made anyone who wore shirts in protest against transgender inclusion in women’s sports cover the messaging if they wanted to get inside to watch the match. Other witnesses have told Fox News Digital that they saw similar instances happen. 

“Air Force Athletics takes necessary measures to provide a safe environment at all home athletic events for players, coaches, staff and fans,” an Air Force spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

San Jose State was scheduled to travel all the way to Reno later this week to play the Wolf Pack, with no guarantee that any Nevada players would take the court. Nevada has told Fox News Digital that its players will not be disciplined for refusing to compete in the upcoming match.

But Nevada has said it can’t forfeit their upcoming match because of state law, the program previously told Fox News Digital. 

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From front left to right, San Jose State setter Brooke Slusser celebrates after scoring a point with libero Randilyn Reeves, outside hitter Blaire Fleming and libero Alessia Buffagni during the first set of an NCAA college volleyball match against Colorado State, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in Fort Collins, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

“The university made the decision not to declare a forfeiture and move forward with hosting the match as scheduled based on several factors. As a public university, the university is legally prohibited by Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution and other laws and regulations to declare a forfeit for reasons related to gender identity or expression,” a Nevada spokesperson said. 

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 Democrat from North Las Vegas who co-sponsored the bill to get it on the ballot, said the law has helped transgender people maintain their identity.

So, forfeiting a game against San Jose State would have violated Nevada’s state law. The other four programs that have already officially forfeited their matches over transgender players are based in states where there are no such laws. In fact, Idaho, where Boise State is based, actually has a state law to prevent transgender inclusion in women’s sports.

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