Volleyball player nearly had to face cries from transgender opponents, claims school pressured team to compete

Players on the University of Nevada, Reno women's volleyball team held a news conference Saturday to address their school's reluctance to forfeit a game against a team with a transgender player.

In addition to former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines, several players spoke about the situation on the day they were scheduled to face San Jose State. The program officially announced that Friday's game would be canceled due to not enough players, but the players had already told their athletic department weeks earlier that they did not want to play against San Jose State.

Sia Liilii, captain of the Wolf Pack team, burst into tears as she took the podium as she recounted her experience telling school officials she didn't want to play against a transgender player.

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“When the news broke, like many of my teammates, I was stunned. This is not what we signed up for,” said an emotional Liilii.

Liilii referenced an Oct. 13 statement from the university asserting that the program intends to play San Jose State despite the players voting to forfeit.

“Our university had made a decision for us. They released a statement on our behalf saying we would be playing. We were not consulted, we were not given a voice and we did not agree,” Liilii said. “It hurt to know that our university was putting us in a situation that could potentially harm us. My teammates and I were very emotional and I'm not sure, I can't put into words how it feels to be faced with something like that and know that we are all on our own.

Nevada previously sent a statement to Fox News Digital confirming that the players had requested to forfeit the game but did not have the authority to do so themselves.

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“A majority of the Wolf Pack women's volleyball team has released a statement to the university informing them that the team has decided to forfeit its scheduled game against San Jose State University. Although players do not have the right to forfeit the game, this decision is a decision. “Only the university and our athletics department can make this official,” the statement said.

The university added that any player was free to sit out the game without consequences.

Liilii said Saturday that when her teammates approached school administrators and expressed their desire to forfeit the game, they were told they “don't understand the science” and asked to reconsider their stance.

“We felt unsafe and dismissed,” Liilii said, sobbing. “We met with our school officials to give them our team's new statement, but they didn't even want to hear it. We were told that we weren't educated enough and didn't understand science. We were told to reconsider our position.”

Nevada Wolf Pack volleyball players Sam Brown and Tulsi Gabbard. (Sam Brown campaign)

In addition to her university, Liilii also took issue with the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA, saying the institutions were “failing us.”

Nevada sophomore Masyn Navarro claimed her teammates were told to “keep quiet” about the controversy during the press conference.

“It shouldn’t be this hard to stand up for women. However, we will now take the opportunity to stand as a team as some of us have been told to remain calm,” Navarro said.

Nevada freshman Kinsley Singleton said her teammates have had several meetings in recent weeks and shared their fears about possible injuries if they had to play against a transgender opponent.

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The program had previously said it could not abandon the game because doing so would be a violation of state law. Article I, Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution provides that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this State or any political subdivision thereof on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or….” expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.”

However, this constitution was revised in 2022 when Nevada voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of protected rights.

Nevada state Sen. Pat Spearman, a North Las Vegas Democrat who co-sponsored the bill to get it on the ballot, said the law helped transgender people maintain their identity.

“As a public university, forfeiture based on gender identity or expression could constitute discrimination per se and violate the Nevada Constitution,” the university’s statement said.

However, after the controversy gained national attention and it was announced that the game was being moved from Nevada to the Bay Area in California, the program eventually announced an official waiver as it became clear there would not be enough players to compete.

Nevada becomes the fifth team to lose a game against them San Jose State, Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State merge. Among the cancellations is that a San Jose State player is embroiled in a lawsuit against the NCAA for being forced to compete with a transgender teammate who is still on the team.

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San Jose State player Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit led by Gaines against the NCAA over its gender identity policies. Slusser joined this lawsuit because she claims she had to share a court, a locker room and even a room on overnight trips with teammate Blaire Fleming without ever learning that Fleming was a biological male.

Blaire Fleming, a redshirt senior at San Jose State University, plays outside hitter and right tackle on the women's volleyball team. (San Jose State University)

San Jose State responded to the loss in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Our athletes all adhere to NCAA and Mountain West Conference guidelines and are eligible to play under the rules of those organizations. We will continue to take measures to prioritize the health and safety of our students as they pursue their deserved opportunities to compete,” the statement said.

Nevada players, including Liilii and Sierra Bernard, wrote an op-ed for Fox News Digital on Friday praising former President Trump for his stance advocating for a ban on transgender athletes in women's sports.

“President Trump has our back, and this election is more important than politics, but it is about leaders who will stand with women on and off the field and defend our right to safe and fair competition,” the players wrote. “As proud athletesWe will continue to fight for fairness on the field and in women's sports. But it shouldn’t be a battle we have to fight alone.”

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