Mountain West Silent Following Cancellation Of Boise State-SJSU Volleyball Match
As OutKick exclusively reported, the Boise State women's volleyball team elected to forfeit its match last week against San Jose State because SJSU has a transgender player, Blaire Fleming.
Boise State issued a statement about the cancelation, as did the NCAA.
However, the Mountain West Conference has not made any comment.
San Jose State and Boise State are both members of the conference (at least for now, as Boise has committed to joining the Pac-12 in 2026).
Boise State is the second volleyball team to cancel a match against San Jose State because of a refusal to play against Fleming.
The Mountain West chose not to comment on Boise State canceling its conference volleyball match against San Jose State due to the presence of transgender player Blaire Fleming (#3, pictured).
(San Jose State Athletics)
Earlier this season, Southern Utah elected not to play SJSU in a non-conference match as part of the Santa Clara Tournament.
OutKick exclusively reported that cancelation, as well.
We reached out to the Mountain West for comment after Southern Utah's decision, but the conference responded that "since this is a non-conference match, we don’t have any jurisdiction in those decisions."
But because Boise State is currently a member of the Mountain West, the match against SJSU is a conference match and thus does fall under the conference's "jurisdiction."
However, the conference still didn't want to comment on the forfeit. Instead, they suggested OutKick speak with the schools involved, which we had already done.
"If you have any questions on the Boise State-San José State match cancelation, please reach out to Boise State. This is an institutional matter," Mountain West Assistant Director of Strategic Communications Hannah Parker told OutKick.
OutKick further asked if the Mountain West is concerned that other schools might also cancel volleyball matches against San Jose State and Blaire Fleming.
The Mountain West chose not to comment on Boise State canceling its conference volleyball match against San Jose State due to the presence of transgender player Blaire Fleming.
(Getty Images & San Jose State Athletics)
And, we pressed the conference on whether there was a plan in place to deal with future forfeits as it relates to conference records, statistics and standings.
Again, they referred us to statements made by Boise State and the NCAA and would not comment.
They did say that, as of now, any other schools that choose to cancel matches against SJSU would count as a forfeit and a loss to the team's record.
However, they also told us that "the Mountain West Board of Directors would have to determine if they wanted to change current procedures" if more forfeits were to happen.
It's this writer's opinion that the Mountain West is trying to kick the can down the road as far as possible on this matter so as not to have to make any decision one way or another.
But that doesn't mean we're going to stop asking questions. This story isn't going away.
Female athletes are becoming more and more empowered to fight back against what is an unfair, and potentially unsafe, situation.
As they should.