San Jose State transgender controversy: Boise State withdraws from Mountain West volleyball tourney rather than play Spartans

Twice during the regular season, the Boise State women’s volleyball team took a moral stand by forfeiting matches against San Jose State rather than competing against a player believed to be transgender.

Now the Broncos are doing so a third time with a lot more at stake.

Boise State announced late Wednesday night that it is pulling out of its conference tournament rather than play second-seeded San Jose State in Friday’s Mountain West semifinals. The sixth-seeded Broncos advanced to the semifinals earlier Wednesday evening with a four-set quarterfinal victory over third-seeded Utah State.

The forfeit loss comes at a time when Boise State (18-10, 10-8) was potentially only two victories away from securing the Mountain West’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Now the Broncos’ season is almost certainly over as they have little hope of receiving an at-large NCAA bid or an invitation to any other postseason tournament.

“The decision to not continue to play in the 2024 Mountain West Volleyball Championship tournament was not an easy one,” Boise State said in a statement. “Our team overcame forfeitures to earn a spot in the tournament field and fought for the win over Utah State in the first round on Wednesday. They should not have to forgo this opportunity while waiting for a more thoughtful and better system that serves all athletes.”

As Boise State celebrated its victory over Utah State on Wednesday evening, it wasn’t immediately clear that the Broncos’ season was over. Boise State athletics media relations director Doug Link told Yahoo Sports and other outlets that the Broncos were undecided whether to play San Jose State or forfeit. He would not address if a decision would come down to a team vote or external factors.

Boise State’s subsequent decision to forfeit sends San Jose State to the Mountain West title game without even having to step on the court a single time. The Spartans received a bye to the semifinals by virtue of receiving a top-two seed in the six-team tournament.

“In this time of Thanksgiving, we are especially thankful for those who continue to engage in civil and respectful discourse,” San Jose State said Thursday in a statement. “We celebrate and support all of our students, including our student-athletes as they compete for our community on this holiday weekend. While we are disappointed in Boise State’s decision, our women’s volleyball team is preparing for Saturday’s match and looks forward to competing for a championship.”

In late September, Boise State became the first Mountain West school to announce that it would not play San Jose State and that it would instead accept a forfeit. The decision set off a cascade of forfeits throughout the conference as Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada each followed suit. In each instance, the schools chose not to explain why they wouldn’t play San Jose State. In each instance, the announcements were followed by a social media post from a Republican state 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 has said that all its women’s volleyball players are eligible to participate under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules.

The NCAA allows transgender women’s athletes to compete if they meet the eligibility criteria set by their sport’s individual governing body. For women’s volleyball, that means transgender women’s athletes must submit documentation of their testosterone levels for at least the previous year to prove they do not exceed the “normal female reference range for their age group.”

Two weeks ago, Boise State sisters Kiersten and Katelyn Van Kirk and a handful of other current Mountain West players filed a lawsuit against the league seeking emergency injunctive relief. The lawsuit sought to ban the San Jose State player believed to be transgender, to strip the Spartans of six league wins obtained by forfeit and prevent the team from participating in the Mountain West tournament.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Kato Crews rejected the players’ request, arguing that the late timing placed “a heavy lift” on the Mountain West and that the “plaintiffs “could have sought injunctive relief much earlier.” That ruling was upheld Tuesday by an appeals court.

Before it found itself at the center of the national firestorm surrounding transgender athletes, San Jose State women’s volleyball could not have been more obscure. This is a program that last won a conference title in 1985, last made the NCAA tournament in 2001 and that seldom draws more than a few hundred fans to home matches.

The player believed to be transgender had already played at San Jose State prior to this year for two seasons without incident. She first made an all-conference team on Tuesday when she earned honorable mention all-Mountain West honors.

Her presence first drew attention last April when Reduxx published a story alleging that a San Jose State women’s volleyball player was transgender and had withheld her biological sex from teammates and opponents. The self-described “pro-woman, pro-child” outlet said it had begun reporting the story after receiving a tip from the mother of an opposing player.

In September, San Jose State setter Brooke Slusser joined a federal lawsuit challenging NCAA policy allowing transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports. Slusser roomed with the player in question after transferring from Alabama last fall but learned about her teammate’s alleged gender identity only after Reduxx outed her.

In the legal filing, Slusser insisted that her allegedly transgender teammate strikes the ball with such power that it provides San Jose State “an unfair advantage” and poses a safety risk to other players during practices and games. Slusser claimed the player’s spikes in practice were traveling “faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball.”

Those comments from Slusser tossed a lighted match on a pile of kindling. Local and national media outlets began covering the story, activist groups attacked San Jose State and right-wing politicians exerted their influence.

San Jose State navigated the chaos, finishing second in the conference with six of the victories via forfeit. Slusser served as San Jose State’s primary setter all season. The allegedly transgender player started at outside hitter and led the Spartans in kills during Mountain West play.

“No one could have imagined what we would go through together as a program over the past few months,” San Jose State coach Todd Kress told reporters last week. “It has been a roller coaster ride with some big ups and downs.

“Through it all, these student-athletes have shown the grit and determination to stay together as a team, to stand together on the court and to play the game we all love while enduring an experience unique in the history of college sports,” he continued. “Some days I don’t know how we have done it. The pain, the conflict and the relentless negativity directed at this team in the media and the bleachers could have broken us but it didn’t. We kept playing and there may be no bigger achievement than that.”

San Jose State players and coaches attended the Boise State-Utah State quarterfinal on Wednesday evening, scouting both teams in preparation to play the winner. Hours later came the late-night announcement from Boise State that it’s pulling out of the tournament.

Kress said his team finished the season playing some of its best volleyball. Now San Jose State will have to wait for the Mountain West title game for a chance to show it.