Twice during the regular season, the Boise State women’s volleyball team took a moral stand by forfeiting games against San Jose State rather than compete with a player believed to be transgender.
Now the Broncos must decide whether to do it a third time, with much more at stake.
Boise State opened the conference tournament Wednesday night in Las Vegas with an upset four-set victory over Utah in the Mountain West quarterfinals. The No. 6 Broncos face San Jose State in Friday’s semifinals, which clinched the No. 2 seed in the six-team tournament and received a bye in the quarterfinals.
If Boise State (18-10, 10-8) again decides to boycott its upcoming game against San Jose State, a loss would almost certainly destroy the Broncos’ hopes of making the NCAA Tournament or any other postseason competition. If Boise State continues to play, the Broncos could extend their season and retain the ability to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the Mountain West, but they risk undermining the message behind their earlier protests.
It is not yet clear which way the Broncos will go. Boise State media relations director Doug Link told Yahoo Sports via text after Wednesday’s quarterfinal that the Broncos have not yet decided whether they will play Friday. He didn’t have a timetable and didn’t address whether it would depend on a team vote or outside factors.
Link offered similar comments to reporters in Las Vegas after Wednesday’s game. The Mountain West did not require tournament teams to make players or coaches available to the media.
In late September, Boise State became the first school in the Mountain West to announce it would not play San Jose State and would instead accept a forfeit. The decision set off a cascade of forfeits throughout the conference as Wyoming, Utah and Nevada followed suit. Either way, the schools chose not to explain why they won’t play San Jose State. In each case, the announcements were followed by a social media post from a Republican senator or governor praising the decision to protect women’s sports.
Yahoo Sports is not naming the San Jose State volleyball player in question because neither she nor her university have publicly commented on her gender identity. San Jose State said all of its women’s volleyball players are eligible to participate under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules.
The NCAA allows transgender athletes to compete if they meet eligibility criteria set by their sport’s individual governing body. In the case of women’s volleyball, this means that transgender athletes must submit documentation of testosterone levels for at least the previous year to prove that they do not exceed the “normal reference range for women for their age group.”
Two weeks ago, Boise State sisters Kiersten and Katelyn Van Kirk and several other current Mountain West players filed a lawsuit against the league seeking emergency relief. The lawsuit sought to ban a San Jose State player believed to be transgender, strip the Spartans of six league wins earned by forfeiture and prevent the team from participating in the Mountain West tournament.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Kato Crews denied the players’ request, saying the late timing caused a “heavy lift” for the Mountain West and that the plaintiffs “could have sought relief much earlier.” This decision was confirmed by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
“We are pleased that the court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to change these rules,” San Jose State said in a statement Monday. “Our team is looking forward to competing in the Mountain West Volleyball Tournament this week.”
Before San Jose State women’s volleyball found itself at the center of a national firestorm surrounding transgender athletes, it couldn’t have been darker. This is a program that last won a conference title in 1985, last made the NCAA Tournament in 2001 and rarely draws more than a few hundred fans to home games.
The player, who is believed to be transgender, had already played two seasons without incident at San Jose State before this year. She made the all-conference team for the first time Tuesday when she earned honorable mention all-Mountain West.
Her presence first gained attention last April when Reduxx published a story claiming the San Jose State volleyball player was transgender and had denied her biological gender to teammates and opponents. The self-labeled “pro-woman, pro-child” outlet said it began reporting the story after receiving a tip from an opponent’s mother.
In September, San Jose State founder Brooke Slusser joined a federal lawsuit challenging the NCAA’s policy of allowing transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports. Slusser lived with the player in question after transferring from Alabama last fall, but only learned of his teammate’s alleged gender identity after Reduxx ran it.
In the legal filing, Slusser insisted that her allegedly transgender teammate hits the ball with such force that it gives San Jose State an “unfair advantage” and poses a safety risk to other players during practices and games. Slusser claimed the player’s spikes traveled “faster than she’s ever seen a woman hit a volleyball” in practice.
These comments from Slusser threw a lit match on the kindling pile. Local and national media began covering the story, activist groups attacked San Jose State, and right-wing politicians exerted their influence.
San Jose State overcame the chaos to finish second in the conference with six wins via shutout. Slusser served as San Jose State’s leading scorer all season. The reportedly transgender player started at outside hitter and led the Spartans in kills during Mountain West play.
“No one could have imagined what we would have gone through together as a program over the last few months,” San Jose State coach Todd Kress told reporters last week. “It’s been a rollercoaster with some big ups and downs.
“Through it all, these student-athletes have shown courage and determination to stay together as a team, to stand together on the field and play the game we all love, while having a unique experience in the history of college sports,” he said. he continued. “Some days I don’t know how we did it. The pain, conflict and relentless negativity directed at this team in the media and in the stands could have broken us, but it didn’t. We kept playing and maybe there will be no bigger success than this one.”
Kress said his team ended the season playing its best volleyball. Now all San Jose State can do is wait to play again.
It could be in Friday’s Mountain West semifinal against Boise State. Or it could be a day later against Colorado State or San Diego State in the Mountain West final.