San Jose State University's women's volleyball team lost 3-1 to San Diego State University on Saturday as the national controversy surrounding trans players on the team continues.
Redshirt senior Blair Fleming led the game with 15 kills, increasing her individual season total to 252. This is Fleming's second season with over 250 kills in her career. Fleming previously recorded an astonishing 311 kills in her debut season at San Jose State in 2022 after transferring from Coastal Carolina.
Fleming entered Saturday's game with the third-highest kill-per-serve percentage in the entire Mountain West Conference at 3.76, but was still far behind the conference leader, Colorado State's Malaya Jones.
Fleming put up this number despite the fact that San Jose State's total of seven games were forfeited amid the ongoing controversy. Still, fueled by Fleming's production, the team as a whole ranks third in the conference in average kills per serve and first in the entire Mountain West in batting average.
However, it is Fleming's teammate Brooke Slusser who holds the team at the top of the batting average rankings. Slusser leads the team and currently ranks fourth in the entire conference with a batting average of .377.
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Slusser is currently suing the NCAA over Fleming's presence on the team. Slusser claimed the university hid Fleming's biological sex from him and his teammates for the past two years after he arrived at San Jose State. Slusser also claims that Fleming's spikes were flying at 80 mph during practice.
“Brooke estimates that Fleming's spike speed was in excess of 80 miles per hour, which is more than she has ever seen a woman hit a volleyball,” Slusser's complaint states. It was speed.” “Although the girls did their best to avoid Fleming's spikes, they were still unable to fully protect themselves.”
Fleming previously set a single-game record at John Champe High School with 30 kills in a game, and set a single-season record for the school's girls volleyball team with 266 kills.
player footage huddle page A school-record 30-kill match in September 2019 showed just how hard and fast Fleming's spikes can be against girls at the high school level.
President Trump went out of his way to comment on a video of Fleming spiking the ball to San Diego State's Kyra Herron in a game earlier this season.
“I saw a slam, it was a slam. I've never seen a ball hit this hard,” Trump said during a Fox News town hall. “But others continue to play forever, even in the field of volleyball. They are really hurt. A woman plays a man. ”
During a game against New Mexico on October 18, one of Fleming's spikes knocked an opposing player to the ground.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires transgender women to submit documentation, including testosterone levels, before determining eligibility. San Jose State University said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the program is fully compliant with NCAA rules.
Still, Fleming's participation raised questions about legality at the state level and whether female athletes should share the same courts and locker rooms.
Five programs have already withdrawn from games against San Jose State this season, with Southern Utah, Boise State, Utah State, Wyoming and Nevada all declining to play the Spartans. Boise State and Wyoming State suffered multiple losses and forfeited two games each to avoid competing with Fleming.
Questions have been raised about a potential conflict that could erupt when San Jose State competes in the Mountain West Tournament at the end of November. In that tournament, the Spartans could potentially pair up against a team they've already been eliminated from in the regular season.
Inside San Jose State Police's fight to protect female athletes under threat from transgender culture wars
Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that she and her teammates were at a loss as to what a postseason appearance would look like in a demoralized locker room.
“The biggest question we have is, even if we go there, are teams going to play us? Because of everything that's happened this season. ” Slusser said. “Every few days it seems like the weather is nice and everything is normal, and then something else happens. So everyone's just taking things day by day and taking the punches that come. I really think so.”
Slusser and her teammates are upset by the recent suspension of assistant coach Melissa Batty-Smooth, who was placed on administrative leave after it was revealed she filed a Title IX complaint against the school. Batty Smooth's complaint alleges that the university favored Fleming over Slusser throughout the dispute.
“I feel like a lot of people, not just me, are disgusted and fed up with this whole situation. So just because one person is causing all these problems, I don't want to be in the locker room and on the court. I think it's causing tension,'' Slusser said.
Colorado State University police monitor Moby Arena behind the San Jose State University Spartans bench during the NCAA Mountain West women's volleyball game between the Spartans and Colorado State Rams on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024 in Fort Collins, Colorado. . (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Batty Smooth's firing is a particularly jarring development for the players, with Slusser claiming she and her teammates feel unsafe.
“After we found out she was released, a lot of the team was broken down, distraught, and even one of my teammates felt like, 'I don't feel safe anymore,' because there's no one.” I feel like I can go and talk about my concerns and my actual feelings and actually speak freely in public,” Slusser said.
Slusser says it's not safe to talk to anyone else involved with the program, even head coach Todd Kress.
“You can't really voice how you feel without them trying to hide it or acting like it's okay. With Melissa, it's easy to put your feelings into words. “She's able to comfort you, acknowledge your feelings, or at least tell you how you feel,” Slusser said. “Compared to other coaches, you feel heard.” .
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Ms. Slusser said she has not spoken to Mr. Fleming at all since joining the lawsuit. Slusser reflected on his interactions with Fleming before he learned of the player's birth gender, saying he regrets “opening up” to the trans player had he not known that Fleming was biologically male. I admitted that there was.
Still, when the two players took the court Saturday, they played like regular teammates, as they have all season. They entered the huddle together, patting each other on the back between plays and putting their arms around each other's shoulders for team games.
On several occasions in recent games, Slusser even planted one of Fleming's signature spikes on Fleming, but she says in the lawsuit that she and her teammates were unable to protect themselves. claims.
Previously scheduled games against Wyoming State and Boise State were canceled, leaving San Jose State with only two games remaining. Slusser and Fleming, who have a 13-4 record, will play Colorado State and Fresno State at home in their final two games of the regular season.
Their fate then rests in the Mountain West Tournament.
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