SJSU volleyball team turns on own coach as they sue university over trans teammate amid forfeiture controversy

College volleyball’s controversy over a transgender player took a new twist this week when the San Jose State University women’s team sued their own coach.

The SJSU women’s volleyball team has had multiple matches in the Division-1 Mountain West Conference forfeited to other schools due to safety concerns when playing against Blaire Fleming, who is biologically male.

Amid the controversy, which has sparked a national debate, some SJSU players have turned on the school and filed a lawsuit against their head coach, the college and the Mountain West Conference.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, asks for Fleming to be declared ineligible for the Mountain West Conference tournament, for SJSU’s wins to be vacated and for the team to be ineligible for the conference tournament.

According to the filing, captain Brooke Slusser, who previously supported the Nevada women’s volleyball team over its struggles against playing SJSU, has demanded that officials remove Fleming from the roster ahead of the Spartans’ championship game in Las Vegas later this month.

Slusser, along with 10 other current or former Mountain West players and SJSU head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, allege that university and conference officials violated their Title IX rights.

Batie-Smoose has been suspended indefinitely by the school after making complaints about Fleming, leaving players ‘distraught’.

The lawsuit also claims that the plaintiffs’ free speech rights were violated because they were discouraged from speaking about their opposition to her participation.

“We have received the complaint and will review it and respond appropriately. We have no further comment,” an SJSU spokesperson said via KRON4.

SJSU administrators told the volleyball team to keep quiet about the issue once it became public, saying speaking about it would be considered “transphobic,” the suit alleges.

Some players on the team were reportedly upset that they had not been informed of Fleming’s biological gender, and only found out when rumors began circulating on campus.

The University of Wyoming became the latest team to forfeit a game against the Spartans this season when it forfeited its second game of the season last week.

It was the seventh game against SJSU to be forfeited – and the first since the election of Donald Trump.

Southern Utah, Boise State, Utah State and Nevada have all joined Wyoming in electing to forfeit games against San Jose State this season.

San Jose hit back in a statement, saying it is “deeply disappointed” for its athletes in the wake of yet another missed game for the team.

“Our athletes all comply with NCAA and Mountain West Conference policies and are eligible to play under the rules of those organizations,” the statement said, via Fox.

“Our volleyball team members have earned the right to compete, and we are deeply disappointed for them and for them to be denied those opportunities through cancellations and forfeits. We are also proud of how they have persevered through these challenges on the field.”

However, the lawsuit states that Slusser tried to warn their coaches that forfeits were looming before the season started.

‘Slusser communicated that the player’s participation on the team was not fair to the girls and put them in physical danger. She also reported that other teams within the conference would not play SJSU because (the player) was on the team. “Girls from other teams told them they wanted to protest a man playing women’s volleyball,” the lawsuit said.

But Slusser’s warnings were met with anger from head coach Todd Kress, who “became angry at Slusser for raising these concerns and telling her that any protest against Fleming would go nowhere.”

According to her teammates, Fleming shoots the ball at 80 miles per hour, faster than anyone in the conference during practice.

Slusser claims the powerful hit puts other players at high risk for injuries, including concussions, and gives the Spartans an unfair advantage.

Another accuser, Alyssa Sugai, said she left the team after the player received a scholarship and took her starting spot in the lineup.

Sugai said she suffered from depression and felt like a failure because, at the time she decided to end her collegiate volleyball career, she did not know the player was transgender.

“They competed for the starting right guard position during practices throughout the 2022 season. Sugai put in extra hours in the gym and before practices, but (the player) continued to outperform Sugai. Losing to (the player) made Sugai doubt her ability to play volleyball at a high level, even though she had trained and competed rigorously since childhood. It also caused her to doubt her self-worth,” the lawsuit said.

She said she was furious in 2023 when she discovered that “no one associated with the SJSU team told her about (the player’s) true gender.” Her feelings of self-worth and her dreams for her future were focused on volleyball.”

The lawsuit demands that MWC and NCAA officials file a declaration “that any male student-athlete is ineligible to participate in women’s volleyball in the MWC and on the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team.” Lawyers are pushing for a jury trial.

The NCAA Policy on Participation of Transgender Athletes allows transgender women to compete in women’s sports if they meet parameters set by that sport’s governing body. Transgender women are eligible to play volleyball if they suppress their testosterone below 10 nmol/L.

SJSU has said all of its players meet the criteria.

Fleming has been cleared by San Jose State to play three seasons for the SJSU women’s volleyball team, which he will join in 2022.