The transgender player was the focal point of the offense in the first game since the lawsuit was filed
Women's volleyball co-captain opens up about lawsuit over transgender player
San Jose State University's women's volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser says she is standing up for herself and her team on 'The Ingraham Angle' as sports journalist Michele Tafoya reacts.
San Jose State's volleyball team hopped into first place in the Mountain West Saturday after transgender player Blaire Fleming dominated with 24 kills, including a dramatic game-winning play against Colorado State.
Fleming's dominant performance came just days after players on the team and around the conference filed a lawsuit that alleges danger and an unfair advantage the biological male poses over other women's volleyball players. But that didn't stop the entire team from rushing to Fleming on the court to celebrate the player's winning serve.
In the deciding fifth set, Fleming set up San Jose State for the win with a late spike. Then, Fleming made the final serve, which was mishandled by Colorado State's Kate Yoshimoto, clinching a victory. And then, in a moment of unbridled competitive adrenaline, all of Fleming's teammates, including players Brooke Slusser, Chandler Manusky and others listed on the lawsuit, quickly jumped into the group celebration.
Slusser and Manusky have alleged Fleming conspired with Colorado State's Malaya Jones to have Slusser spiked in the face in the first meeting between the two teams Oct. 3, according to the lawsuit.
"Manusky said that at Jones’ residence Fleming had shared with Jones the scouting for the CSU-FC game and they had discussed Fleming ‘throw[ing] the game’ and how they would set up Jones to ‘blow up’ Slusser and ‘blast’ her in the face during the game," the court documents state.
"Manusky also said that Fleming stated, ‘I’m going to leave center court open,’ which would allow Malaya Jones to have a wide open shot to try to ‘blow up Slusser,’ i.e., to try to hit Brooke Slusser in the face with the ball."
Slusser appeared on Fox News Channel's "The Inghram Angle" Friday night to further speak out against Fleming's presence on the team and the university and Mountain West for enabling it.
Blaire Fleming, a redshirt senior at San Jose State University, plays as an outside and right-side hitter on the women’s volleyball team. (San Jose State University)
"After finding out that they had planned to give each other our scouting reports and leave the block down so the ball could easily be swung at me during the game, it was astonishing for me to find that information out. It was incredibly insane," Slusser said.
One day later, Slusser and Fleming, two seniors, appeared on the court for the team's senior day and played like normal volleyball teammates. Fleming was even cheered loudly by the San Jose State crowd during the senior day ceremony.
Fans in the audience held posters that said "dare to struggle, dare to win," and "block out the haters."
Despite suing over alleged danger and unfair advantages over Fleming's presence on the team, Slusser and Manusky contributed to a game plan that was based on setting up Fleming to deliver powerful spikes.
Fleming led the game with 24 kills, 56 total attacks and 10 errors. Fleming fell one kill shy of tying a career high.
Slusser previously joined a lawsuit earlier this year, headed by former college swimmer Riley Gaines, against the NCAA over the association's policies on gender identity that allowed Fleming to join the team without the other players knowing the athlete's natural birth sex.
"Brooke estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball," Slusser’s complaint states. "The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves."
Fleming previously set a single-game record at John Champe High School with 30 kills in a match and a single-season record of 266 kills for the school's girls volleyball team. Footage from the athlete's Hudl page of the school-record 30-kill match in September 2019 shows how hard and fast Fleming's spikes came down at the high school level against female opponents.
President Trump even went out of his way to comment about footage of one of Fleming's plays in which the player spiked a ball at San Diego State player Keira Herron in a match earlier this season.
"I saw the slam. It was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard," Trump said during a Fox News town hall. "But other people, even in volleyball, they’ve been permanently — I mean, they've been really hurt badly. Women playing men."
The most recent lawsuit, which is filed against San Jose State and the Mountain West Conference, alleges other players were passed over for scholarships in favor of Fleming.
Fleming received a full scholarship, while a biological female, Alyssa Sugai, did not receive a scholarship and alleges she was told by coaches she was not "phyiscal" enough as a player compared to Fleming. Sugai is now part of the lawsuit and seeking monetary damages after the decision to grant Fleming a scholarship instead caused Sugai's volleyball career to end, resulting in severe depression.
Former San Jose State player Elle Patterson is also part of the lawsuit and alleges she did not receive a scholarship. Patterson also played behind Fleming and alleges the university did not fulfill previous verbal offers of a scholarship to her for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Patterson says she even paid full tuition to play in 2023 after being told she would get a scholarship for 2024. However, the program did not make good on that offer either, she alleges.
San Jose State previously addressed the allegations in a statement to Fox News Digital.
"The safety and well-being of our student athletes and employees is our highest priority. The university has taken and will continue to take multiple steps to provide security, support and resources to all members of the team as the program navigates this challenging time," the statement said.
"San Jose State takes all reports and complaints seriously, but we are unable to provide any information regarding confidential complaints and reports out of respect for the parties involved and due to federal and state privacy laws.
"The university also has concerns about a number of inaccuracies in the press but is not able to comment further on those in light of privacy rights of all involved. We will continue to honor the privacy of our employees and students. We require and expect that all of our employees abide by our standards, policies and applicable laws regarding student and employee privacy."
The team has just one match left in the regular season with a meeting against Fresno State scheduled for Tuesday. Questions still remain about the team's postseason prospects.
San Jose State has had seven matches on its schedule forfeited amid the controversy involving Fleming. Southern Utah, Boise State, Utah State, Wyoming and Nevada all declined to face the Spartans. Boise State and Wyoming forfeited two matches each, taking multiple losses to avoid competition against Fleming.
And now, standing alone in first place in the conference, the Spartans are set to have a top seed in the Mountain West tournament, starting Nov. 27.
Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview she and her teammates are in limbo about what a potential postseason run might look like as they navigate a demoralized locker room.
"We're just mostly wondering, are teams even gonna play us, period, if we go there? Because of just everything that's happened this season," Slusser said. "It seems like every few days it looks like It'll be a fine day and everything's normal, and then something else happens. So, I truly do think everyone's just kind of taking things day by day and taking the punches as they come."
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Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
