Boise State women’s volleyball forfeits game, refuses to play against man
The Boise State University women’s volleyball team has refused to play a team that has a trans-identifying male player, accepting a forfeit loss instead.
A day before the team's scheduled game against San José State University, Boise State released a statement Friday explaining that they wouldn't participate in the game.
“Boise State volleyball will not play its scheduled match at San José State on Saturday, Sept. 28. Per Mountain West Conference policy, the Conference will record the match as a forfeit and a loss for Boise State. The Broncos will next compete on Oct. 3 against Air Force,” stated the Idaho-based university.
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Although the university's statement did not overtly mention the issue, several outlets have reported that the forfeit occurred due to SJSU having a man on their women’s team.
The player at the center of the controversy goes by the name Blaire Fleming, and is a senior at SJSU who has played three seasons at the university after previously playing at Coastal Carolina University, Fox News reported.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little, who signed an executive order in August prohibiting males from competing in women’s sports, took to X to commend Boise State for its decision.
“I applaud [Boise State] 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,” he tweeted.
One of Fleming’s teammates, co-captain Brooke Slusser, is one of a dozen female athletes who have filed a lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association over alleged violations of Title IX.
The class action lawsuit was filed in March by the group Independent Council on Women’s Sports and claims that the NCAA has violated Title IX by allowing men to compete in women’s sports.
Slusser told OutKick that she joined the lawsuit because “it's something I truly believe in” and that this was “something that so many people do care about,” saying that having Fleming on her team was “a really hard pill to swallow.”
"I couldn't comprehend the fact that there was a man on the team, and it was almost as if I was in denial for a really long time that this was happening," Slusser said. "So it was just really hard for me to wrap my head around.”
"And then, it still being a topic we weren't really allowed to talk about. It was just kind of whispers behind closed doors that this is what's happening, but no one's really talked about it or addressed it."
