Trans SJSU Player Thrusts Mountain West Volleyball Tournament Into National Spotlight
As OutKick reported on Wednesday, a dozen women filed a lawsuit against the Mountain West, among other defendants, alleging First Amendment violations surrounding San Jose State volleyball's transgender player, Blaire Fleming.
Of the 12 plaintiffs, nine are current players representing five Mountain West schools: San Jose State, Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada.
Boise State, Wyoming, Nevada and Utah State have forfeited a total of six conference matches against San Jose State because they did not want to compete against Fleming, a biological male.
One of the allegations in the suit is that the Mountain West Conference (MWC) has demanded that schools declare whether they plan to forfeit conference tournament matches, should they be matched against SJSU.
"The MWC has communicated that even if a school has otherwise qualified to compete in the MWC women’s volleyball tournament, the MWC will require that the school give up their right to protest and/or boycott the participation of the SJSU team in the MWC women’s volleyball tournament," the lawsuit alleges.
Thanks to the controversy involving San Jose State and trans player Blaire Fleming, the Mountain West Conference volleyball tournament is going to attract a lot of attention.
(Getty Images)
"[The MWC has] said that any women’s volleyball team which fails to relinquish the right to protest and/or engage in a boycott against the SJSU team will not be permitted to compete in the MWC women’s volleyball tournament."
OutKick reached out to the conference to ask if they demanded that teams declare whether they will forfeit against SJSU and if they plan to not invite any school that says it plans to forfeit.
"The 2024 Mountain West Volleyball Championship is set for six qualifying teams. The league always prepares for all six teams to participate and has contingency plans for unforeseen situations," a Mountain West spokesperson told OutKick via email.
"The league has not been informed that any teams are forfeiting a match," they added.
While the conference did not confirm that they had asked about forfeits or told schools they wouldn't invite them to the tournament if they planned to forfeit, they did not deny the communications, either.
Mountain West Conference Volleyball Tournament Format
The Mountain West Conference volleyball tournament invites the top six teams, based on conference record, at the end of the regular season to compete in a single-elimination tournament.
The winner of that tournament earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament, similar to March Madness. Any school that wins a conference tournament automatically qualifies. The rest of the schools are selected by a committee as "at-large" bids, just like with the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament.
Thanks to the controversy involving San Jose State and trans player Blaire Fleming, the Mountain West Conference volleyball tournament is going to attract a lot of attention.
(Orlando Ramirez/Imagn Images)
There are no Mountain West schools inside the Top 50 in the NCAA's RPI rankings, meaning that the only school likely to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament is the winner of the conference tournament. Currently, San Jose State sits in second place, which would earn them an automatic bye into the semifinals where they would await a quarterfinal winner.
Thus, any school that forfeited a conference tournament match against SJSU would effectively end its own season. As of Friday, two teams that forfeited against San Jose State are in position to reach the conference tournament.
Utah State has already clinched a top six record and Boise State is comfortably in sixth place.
But one of the goals of the lawsuit is to have a judge grant an injunction to enforce any of the following conditions: disqualify San Jose State from competing in the conference tournament, disqualify Blaire Fleming from competing in the conference tournament, and/or remove the losses from the records of teams who protested by not competing against SJSU – and, subsequently, remove the wins from SJSU.
If a judge granted only that final condition, it would drastically alter the Mountain West standings with only two games remaining per team (except San Jose State and Boise State, since Boise State already forfeited its Nov. 21 match against SJSU).
San Jose State would fall to sixth in the conference, and they would be just ahead of Wyoming, who forfeited two matches against SJSU.
If a judge granted an injunction that turned the forfeited Mountain West volleyball matches into no-contests, it would give Wyoming a better chance to reach the conference tournament over San Jose State and transgender player Blaire Fleming.
(University of Wyoming Athletics)
SJSU, Blaire Fleming Making NCAA Volleyball Tournament Would Be A Nightmare For NCAA
Quite frankly, the NCAA is probably hoping for the judge to grant one of the conditions.
The NCAA has remained virtually silent on the Blaire Fleming controversy, electing to put the onus on the Mountain West. OutKick has reached out to the NCAA several times, and they've declined comment in each instance.
However, if San Jose State won the Mountain West Tournament and earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament, the NCAA would have no choice but to take a stand. It has appeared all along that the governing body is hoping that doesn't happen.
If a judge denies all the conditions, then San Jose State would likely need to win just two matches to capture the Mountain West Conference tournament.
It's also possible that SJSU faces a team who plans to forfeit against them, which could mean SJSU only has to win one, or possibly even zero, matches on the court to earn that spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The whole situation is a mess for everyone involved, but the inaction of the governing bodies has allowed this to continue unabated throughout the entire season.
But it's all coming to a head in less than two weeks when the Mountain West Conference volleyball tournament officially begins.