Volleyball player nearly forced to face transgender opponent cries, alleges school pressured team to compete

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

Alongside former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines, multiple players spoke about the situation on the day they were scheduled to face San Jose State. The program officially announced it would forfeit the match Friday due to not having enough players, but the players had told their athletic department they didn't want to play San Jose State weeks earlier. 

Wolf Pack team captain Sia Liilii broke down in tears from the minute she took the podium while she recounted her experience telling school officials she didn't want to compete against a transgender player, adding she was pressured to do so anyway. 

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

Liilii referenced a statement the university released Oct. 13, assuring the program intends to face San Jose State despite players voting to forfeit.

"Our university had made a decision for us. They released a statement on our behalf saying we were going to play. We were not consulted, we were not given a voice and we did not agree," Liilii said. "It hurt knowing our university was putting us in a position that could potentially hurt us. My teammates and I were very emotional, and I'm not sure, I cannot put into words how it feels to face something like this and knowing that we are all on our own." 

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

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"A majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team issued a statement to the university informing it that the team had decided it was forfeiting the scheduled match with San José State University. While players are not authorized to forfeit the match, this decision is one that only the university and our department of athletics can officially make," the statement said. 

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

Liilii said Saturday that when her teammates approached school officials expressing their desire to forfeit the match, they were lectured about "not understanding 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 wouldn't even hear it. We were told that we weren't educated enough and that we didn't understand the science. We were told to reconsider our position." 

Nevada Wolf Pack women's volleyball players with Sam Brown and Tulsi Gabbard. (Sam Brown Campaign)

In addition to her university, Liilii also called out the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA, saying the institutions "are failing us." 

Nevada sophomore Masyn Navarro alleged her teammates have been told to "stay quiet" about the controversy during the press conference. 

"It should not be this difficult to stand up for women. However, we will now take this opportunity to stand up as a team, as some of us have been told to stay quiet," Navarro said. 

Nevada freshman Kinsley Singleton said her teammates had multiple meetings in recent weeks and shared their fears of potential injury if they had to play against a transgender opponent. 

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The program previously said it could not forfeit the match because it 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 of its political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin."

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

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

"As a state university, a forfeiture for reasons involving gender identity or expression could constitute per se discrimination and violate the Nevada Constitution," the university's statement said.

However, after the controversy got national attention, and it was announced the match was moved from Nevada to the Bay Area in California, the program finally announced an official forfeit once it became clear it wouldn't have enough players to compete. 

Nevada is the fifth team to forfeit a match against San Jose State, joining Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State. The cancellations come with a San Jose State player involved in a lawsuit against the NCAA over being forced to compete with a transgender teammate who is still on the team.

San Jose State player Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit led by OutKick host and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA over its policies on gender identity. Slusser joined this lawsuit because she claims she has had to share a court, a locker room and even a room on overnight trips with teammate Blaire Fleming without having ever been told Fleming was a biological male. 

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)

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

"Our athletes all comply with NCAA and Mountain West Conference policies, and they 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 while they pursue their earned opportunities to compete," the statement said. 

Nevada players, including Liilii and Sierra Bernard, wrote an op-ed for Fox News Digital 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 about leaders who will be standing with women on and off the court, defending our right to compete safely and fairly," the players wrote. "As proud female athletes, we will continue to fight for fairness on the court and in women’s sports. But it shouldn’t be a fight we have to take on alone."

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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.