Last week, the women’s volleyball team at the University of Nevada forfeited its game against San Jose State due to the team’s concern about playing against a transgender player. Still, the forfeit came despite the pressure from Nevada administrators to play the game anyway.
Nevada’s athletic department officially announced the forfeit on Friday, noting that the team would not have enough players to take the court.
The school initially announced that the team would play against SJSU, but the women on the team seemed to have other ideas and announced that they did not intend to play. Further, they criticized the school for making decisions for them without even asking their opinions.
Despite the school’s claim that the team would play, the women held a vote and firmly decided not to play, regardless of what the school athletic department said.
Now, the women of the Wolf Pack are speaking out against the pressure they suffered from school administrators.
Members of the team appeared with former NCAA swimming champion and women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines to blast Nevada for trying to force them to play against a transgender player, according to Fox News.
The team’s captain, Sia Liilii, broke down in tears as she recounted school administrators pressuring her and the other women to play despite their worries over their safety for facing a man who identifies as a woman.
“When the news broke, I was stunned, as many of my teammates were. This is not what we signed up for,” Liilii said. Liilii begins speaking at the 20-minute mark.
“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 explained. “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.”
Lilli added that when the women approached school officials about not wanting to play against a trans player, they were lectured about “not understanding science” concerning trans athletes.
“We felt unsafe and dismissed,” Liilii exclaimed. “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 sophomore Masyn Navarro said the women on her team were warned to “stay quiet” about their concerns. She added, “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.”
The women also released a letter saying that Donald Trump “has their back.”
“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 in a public letter. “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.”
For their part, Nevada administrators released another statement saying that the women on the team had no power to forfeit a game, and only the athletic department could officially do so.
However, the school also said players may opt out of playing and will not be punished.
The university also claimed that if the school was seen refusing to play a team with a trans athlete, it could be illegal.
“As a state university, a forfeiture for reasons involving gender identity or expression could constitute per se discrimination and violate the Nevada Constitution,” a university statement said.
The University of Nevada is far from the only women’s college volleyball team to boycott a game against San Jose State.
Four other teams, including Utah, Boise State, Wyoming, and Utah State, have refused to play against San Jose.
Trans opponents have seriously injured several women and girls over the last several years, and those injuries have caused a lot of female athletes to pause their support for radical transgenderism.
The NCAA is also being sued by several groups over its policy of allowing transgender players to play as women.
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