Boise State’s women’s volleyball team has withdrawn from its Mountain West Conference Championship tournament match against San Jose State University (SJSU) amid an ongoing, gender controversy surrounding an SJSU player.
The Boise State Broncos, who didn’t give a reason for their withdrawal, boycotted their two matches against the San Jose State Spartans during the regular season, with SJSU receiving a total of six forfeit victories throughout the season due to withdrawals from Mountain West opponents.
“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 on Wednesday.
“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.”
SJSU said it was disappointed in Boise State’s decision.
“In this time of Thanksgiving, we are especially thankful for those who continue to engage in civil and respectful discourse. We celebrate and support all of our students, including our student-athletes as they compete for our community on this holiday weekend,” SJSU said in a statement sent to CNN Thursday.
“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.”
CNN has reached out to Boise State for comment on its decision. Neither the player in question nor SJSU have commented publicly on the player’s gender, and CNN is not naming the player since she has previously refused to comment through a university official.
Wyoming, Utah State, Nevada and Southern Utah have also canceled games against SJSU this season, per the Associated Press (AP). The five teams all canceled their games against San Jose State apparently because of rumors that SJSU has a transgender player on their team. The topic was widely discussed by political figures throughout the recent campaigning season.
According to documents filed in federal court, the controversy began last spring amid the rumors about the Spartans player.
The situation escalated in early November when another San Jose State player, Brooke Slusser, and players from two other schools in the Mountain West Conference filed suit to prevent the allegedly trans player from competing.
On Monday, however, a federal judge in Denver ruled that the player was allowed to compete and a federal appeals court upheld the decision the following day.
Republican governors from Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have publicly supported women’s volleyball teams for withdrawing from games against SJSU, citing a need for “fairness” in women’s sports.
But Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez has said that the student at the center of the controversy “meets the eligibility standard (to compete in women’s collegiate sports),” telling the AP last month: “It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention. It just doesn’t feel right to me.”
Ahead of the recent US election, president-elect Donald Trump told a FOX News town hall of a volleyball match he was watching: “I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head.”
Though Trump didn’t specify which match it was, San Diego State later released a statement saying that “it has been incorrectly reported that a San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University.”
The statement added: “The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Boise State defeated Utah State 25-19, 18-25, 25-20, 25-23 to reach the semifinals.
San Jose State, the No. 2 seed at the Mountain West tournament, now advances to Saturday’s final where it will face either No. 1 Colorado State or No. 5 San Diego State, who meet each other in Friday’s semifinal.
CNN’s Taylor Romine contributed to reporting.
