Colorado State Beats SDSU, Vows To Face SJSU, Trans Blaire Fleming In MWC Championship
LAS VEGAS – For the second straight season, the Colorado State Rams women's volleyball team reached the Mountain West Tournament Championship game.
But this year, it will face San Jose State, which has trans-identifying biological male Blaire Fleming.
SJSU advanced to the title game by way of forfeit when Boise State withdrew from the tournament after beating Utah State on Wednesday.
The Broncos forfeited twice in the regular season against SJSU because of Fleming, and they decided that making a statement about protecting women's sports was more important than a chance to win a conference championship.
Colorado State defeated San Diego State on Saturday to advance to the Mountain West Women's Volleyball Championship final where it will face San Jose State and transgender player Blaire Fleming.
(Colorado State Athletics & Getty Images)
So, San Jose State, which has still yet to play a match in the Mountain West tournament after "earning" a first round bye (thanks to six regular season forfeit victories), faces top-seeded Colorado State on Saturday at Cox Pavilion.
The Rams dropped the first set against fifth-seeded San Diego State on Friday afternoon, but rallied to win three straight sets to advance to the championship.
Colorado State faced SJSU twice in the regular season, with each team winning once, so it was expected that the Rams would not forfeit the match.
Head coach Emily Kohan, who was named Mountain West Coach of the Year this week, confirmed that the team would play SJSU after beating the Aztecs.
"Yes, we will play tomorrow," Kohan said when asked if the team would take the court against San Jose State.
"We get an opportunity to play for another championship tomorrow, but we also are showing some courage to be the team that says, 'hey, we're going to go out there, and we're going to show courage in the way we play,'" Kohan said.
There's a fascinating, albeit disturbing, subplot to a Mountain West Championship between the Rams and Spartans.
San Jose State associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint that alleged, among other things, that San Jose State transgender player Blaire Fleming visited Colorado State star Malaya Jones – who was named Mountain West Player of the Year – the night before a match between the two schools in early October.
The allegation, which is also included in a lawsuit against the Mountain West Conference, says that the two players concocted a plan where Fleming would throw the match and set Jones up to deliver spikes towards SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser with the intent of injuring Slusser.
The Mountain West says that it investigated the claim, but "did not find sufficient evidence of claims in a recent Title IX complaint."
Colorado State's Malaya Jones (left) and San Jose State's Blaire Fleming (right) are accused of colluding to throw an October match between the two schools with the intent of targeting SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser for injury.
(Colorado State Athletics & San Jose State Athletics)
OutKick asked Kohan about the allegation after the match, and she said that she had no comment other than that the conference investigated and "deemed that there were no competitive improprieties."
While the Mountain West says it reviewed the game tape and statistics of the Oct. 3 match and found no evidence of collusion, it's worth noting that Blaire Fleming played one of the worst games of the season.
Fleming committed 10 hitting errors in that match, the most Fleming committed in any match this year. SJSU lost in straight sets, 3-0.
But when the teams met again two weeks ago, Fleming played one of the best matches of the season.
Fleming led all players with 24 kills and scored a game-high 26 points for SJSU. Fleming also had the match-winning ace.
As mentioned, the winner of Saturday's Mountain West Championship earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Of course, the NCAA does not want to see San Jose State advance because it means it would finally have to deal with the Blaire Fleming situation.
Even Kohan talked about taking the weight off the NCAA, and other teams having to decide whether to face Fleming or forfeit, if the Rams can pull out the victory on Saturday.
"This can stop with us," Kohan said. "We're not going to pass these difficult conversations on to the NCAA committee or any other team to [be forced] to have those crying conversations in the hotel."
The Mountain West Championship match begins at 2 p.m. PT on Saturday at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas on the campus of UNLV.