The University of Wyoming announced that its women’s volleyball team will not play its scheduled conference match at San Jose State on Thursday, the latest match that the Spartans have had canceled amid controversy regarding an alleged transgender athlete who has been on the team for the past three years.
The forfeit announced on Friday marks the second time this season that Wyoming has canceled a match against San Jose State, as well as the seventh time overall that the Spartans have had a match canceled because of forfeits. The other schools to forfeit are Boise State (twice), Nevada, Utah State and Southern Utah.
According to a San Francisco Chronicle report, political pressure outside the program was a significant factor in Wyoming’s decision to cancel its first scheduled match against SJSU on Oct. 5.
SJSU associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose is currently away from the team after reportedly filing a Title IX complaint regarding the alleged transgender player on the Spartans’ roster.
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Spartans co-captain Brooke Slusser, who joined a lawsuit in September against the NCAA that outed the SJSU player as transgender, posted last weekend on the social media platform X, “My assistant coach spoke truth to protect my team. Then…they fire her. They took away the only safe space we had in the program. Because she knew that it was right to stand up for the 18 women on the team. Not one man.”
The player in question has not stated publicly that she is transgender, so this news organization has not identified her.
San Jose State’s record entering Saturday’s match at San Diego State is 13-4 (11-4 in conference play).