The San Jose State women’s volleyball team may not play another game this year due to the arrival of redshirt junior Blaire Fleming.
Fleming’s towering 6-foot-1 presence on the volleyball court has assisted SJSU’s Division I volleyball team in remaining undefeated this season, but the transgender player has also caused many teams to forgo playing against them.
A third women’s college volleyball team forfeited a match against San Jose State amid controversy over transgender player Blaire Fleming.
Southern Utah and Boise State both refused to play against San Jose State last month, although neither gave a reason as to why.
Now, the University of Wyoming has followed suit and forfeited its proposed game with the school on Saturday. They have also refused to state why.
🚨Breaking: Utah State Women’s Volleyball joins SUU, BSU & UWyo in refusing to compete against a team with a male player‼️
They are the 3rd @MountainWest team to forfeit a match against SJSU and the 4th team this season. pic.twitter.com/txhAIJ2PAe
— ICONS (@icons_women) October 3, 2024
It’s rather clear that neither team wants any part of Blaire Fleming.
Look at the power and height of this Male Player Blaire Fleming – from today’s Iowa Hawkeyes vs. San Jose State women’s volleyball game.
Is it fair for these women who have worked so hard to be dominated by a mediocre male player? @NCAAVolleyball @icons_women @WomenAreReals… pic.twitter.com/sk8Bpg13Aq
— Beth Bourne (@bourne_beth2345) September 6, 2024
According to Fox News, the Concerned Women of America (CWA) is leading the charge in safeguarding women’s sports.
Macy Petty, a CWA legislative assistant and a NCAA volleyball athlete, shared with Fox News their efforts to raise awareness of transgender players’ impact on women’s sports.
“We want to protect the integrity of women’s sports but also the safety of these female athletes,” she said. “Many of these schools were unaware that there was a male athlete on this team until this news article came out in April. We just want to make sure that these schools know exactly what is going on in this athletic program because the NCAA and SJSU had not previously given them the decency to even let them know what was happening.”
“Female athletes were put in this odd position of showing up on the court and looking at the other side and realizing that something was different about this game. I’ve never seen an athlete play like this before, which makes total sense considering that this athlete, first of all, is not female, but the net is seven inches shorter than it should be for male players.”
Blaire Fleming, an outside and right-side hitter, has played for San Jose State for two seasons after previously playing at Coastal Carolina.
San Jose State responded to the controversy over its player in a statement to OutKick on Tuesday, saying: ‘It is disappointing that our SJSU student athletes, who are in full compliance with NCAA and Mountain West rules and regulations, are being denied opportunities to compete.
‘We are committed to supporting our student-athletes through these challenges and in their ability to compete in an inclusive, fair, safe and respectful environment.’
