Boise State women’s volleyball forfeits game, refuses to play against man

October 1, 2024

The Boise State University (BSU) women’s volleyball team has accepted a forfeit loss rather than playing a team that has a trans-identifying male player.

The Christian Post reports that the Idaho-based school released a statement on Friday explaining that the women’s volleyball team would not be taking part in its scheduled match against San Jose State University (SJSU) the next day.

Without mentioning the specific reason for the decision not to play, the university simply announced that it would not play the scheduled match and added, “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.”

Several media outlets have reported that the decision stems from SJSU having a trans-identified male player who goes by the name Blaire Fleming on their women’s team.

Brooke Slusser is one of Fleming’s teammates and is also one of a dozen female athletes who have filed a class action lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) over allowing men to compete in women’s sports.

Slusser told Outkick that having Fleming on her team was a “hard pill to swallow” and said, “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. So it was just really hard for me to wrap my head around.”

Slusser added, “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.”

Photo: top, Credit: Screengrab/YouTube/Boise State Admissions