School that allowed male on women’s volleyball team hit by fleeing players

The full repercussions of a decision by San Jose State to allow a male to participate on a women’s volleyball team over the last year still haven’t hit.

But the next wave is just developing, as a long list of players on that team have confirmed they are planning to transfer to other schools.

Fox News reports that a “wave” of players announced their exodus from San Jose State’s team after a “controversy-riddled” season.

“Student athletes have the ability to make decisions about their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that,” the school conceded in a statement.

The report said the San Francisco Chronicle confirmed that already seven of the players are leaving, after a season that provoked some reality-defying circumstances, such as the New York Times description of biological women on the women’s team as “non-transgender women.”

The San Jose season was marred by eight forfeited matches by teams whose players refused to subject themselves to possible injury from the volleyball slams of a stronger, male, opponent.

There also was regular police presence for the team and fights among players and coaches.

The team ended its season with a loss in the conference final to Colorado State, and at the time head coach Todd Kress called it “one of the most difficult seasons” he’d ever had.

The male player, Blaire Fleming, has used up his collegiate eligibility after finishing a fourth season.

The report explained some of the issues that remain: “In September, co-captain Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit against the NCAA alleging the program withheld knowledge about Fleming’s birth gender from her and other players on the team. Slusser alleged she was made to share changing and sleeping spaces with Fleming without knowing that Fleming was a biological male.”

Slusser and other Mountain West Conference players also launched a separate lawsuit against the conference and San Jose State, and that has included testimony from former San Jose State volleyball players Alyssa Sugai and Elle Patterson alleging they were passed over for scholarships in favor of Fleming, the report said.

Revealed in court papers was an alleged scheme by Fleming “to have Slusser spiked in the face with a volleyball in a game against Colorado State on Oct. 3. Slusser was not spiked in the face in that game, and an investigation by the Mountain West concluded without finding sufficient evidence of the alleged plot,” the report said.

And an assistant coach, Melissa Batie-Smoose, was suspended last month after filing a Title IX complaint against the school for showing favoritism toward Fleming.

WND had reported during the season when teams from many other schools simply refused to play San Jose State because of the presence of Fleming.

Among the schools that simply walked away from matches were Boise State, the University of Wyoming, Southern Utah and Utah State.

Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who was among the first to launch a revolt against males on women’s sports teams, applauded the latest developments in the social and moral contest over adopting the ideology that men can simply call themselves women, and be on women’s teams.

Some of the legal actions already in play charge the NCAA with violating Title IX by allowing men on women’s teams.

“The suit asserts that including male-to-female trans players not only disadvantages women but also presents a safety hazard…as highlighted in this video shared by Republican Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn:”

Complete slap in the face to every single female athlete. Why is the @NCAA pretending that it is “fair” for biological men to compete against women?

Just look at how hard and fast biological male Blaire Fleming from @SanJoseStateVB hits this ball – unfair AND dangerous. pic.twitter.com/wJQkYn1hfa

— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) September 12, 2024

A governor even joined the conversation:

I applaud @BoiseState for working within the spirit of my Executive Order, the Defending Women’s Sports Act. We need to ensure player safety for all of our female athletes and continue the fight for fairness in women’s sports. pic.twitter.com/5cKzzTvSbw

— Brad Little (@GovernorLittle) September 27, 2024

And the Cowboy State Daily reported, “U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Republican and Wyoming’s only delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, voiced support for UW’s ultimate decision in a Tuesday statement.”

“I am proud of UW volleyball standing up to this nonsense,” wrote Hageman. “We must do what it takes to protect our girls! I hope everyone will go support the team this season.”

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon also voiced support of the decision, saying, “It is important we stand for integrity and fairness in female athletics.”

Lawmakers in that state warned their school: “The Legislature has been very clear that the University of Wyoming, being a publicly funded land grant institution, should not participate in the extremist agenda of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) or propagate the lie that biological sex can be changed. We all know it cannot.”