The women of the University of Nevada at Reno volleyball team plan to defy their school by refusing to compete against a team with a biological male player.
âWe are risking our main goal, which is a Mountain West championship,â University of Nevada womenâs volleyball team captain and outside hitter Sia Liilii told The Daily Signal. âA team is a group that bands together to reach a common goal, and that is the purpose of our spot-on the team. No one wants to lose and put that at risk, but this is bigger than wins and losses.â
âIt is the future of womenâs sports,â she explained.
The majority of the Nevada volleyball team voted to forfeit its Oct. 26 game against Californiaâs San Jose State University, where biological male volleyball player Blaire Fleming has led an undefeated season.
The Nevada women are the fifth team in the Mountain West Conference to boycott San Jose State University this season on behalf of womenâs sports.
âOur team had multiple meetings to discuss this issue,â Liilii said. âWe all have a voice that deserves to be heard. A vast majority of our team voted to stand in solidarity with the teams that forfeited, and as a team, we sent a letter to our administrators letting them know we would be releasing a statement that we will not be playing.â
The Nevada womenâs volleyball team sent a statement to the university saying the team stands âunited in solidarity with the volleyball teams of Southern Utah University, Boise State University, the University of Wyoming, and Utah State University.â
âWe demand that our right to safety and fair competition on the court be upheld. We refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes,â the statement says.
After the women decided not to compete against San Jose State, the University of Nevada at Reno administration released a statement expressing its intent to go forward with the game.
âThe University intends to move forward with the match as scheduled, and the players may choose not to participate in the match on the day of the contest,â the statement said. âNo players will be subject to any team disciplinary action for their decision not to participate in the match.â
Despite lack of support from their school, the Nevada volleyball players still plan to boycott the game. They are prepared to face any consequences that may come their way.
âIt was definitely a tough meeting to be in,â Liilii said of the teamâs discussion with Athletic Director Stephanie Rempe. âWe know that there will be negative consequences we will face when choosing not to participate in the match.â
Rempe did not respond to The Daily Signalâs request for comment.
Liilii said the teamâs stance is not about transgender player Fleming, but the future of womenâs sports.
âMen do not belong in womenâs sports,â the college senior said. âIf you are born a biological male, you do not belong in womenâs sports. This is not about one individual athlete. It is about fair competition and safety for all womenâs sports.â
Flemingâs teammate, San Jose State University volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser, applauded the Nevada team for their âcourageâ in taking a stand for womenâs sports.
Between now and Oct. 26, when Nevada is scheduled to face San Jose State, the players are taking things game by game.
âWe have other matches to focus on at the time, so that is the center of our attention and enjoying playing together,â Liilii said.
High-profile politicians, including former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii; Senate candidate Sam Brown, R-Nev.; and Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., attended Nevadaâs Tuesday game, in which the team beat Utah State University 3-2.
âI am so proud of you,â Gabbard told Liilii, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
In 2020, Gabbard, while still in Congress, and Mullin introduced the Protect Womenâs Sports Act to keep males out of womenâs and girlsâ athletics.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, also expressed his support for the Nevada team, saying, âNo student athlete should ever be pressured to play a game where they donât feel safeâperiod.â
Biological males competing in womenâs sports is expected to be a âsleeperâ issue in the 2024 elections.
Nearly three-quarters (72%) of registered voters think biological males should not be allowed to participate in womenâs and girls sports, according to new national polling from Scott Rasmussen shared with The Daily Signal.
Republicans have highlighted Democratic support for males playing womenâs sports in ad campaigns against them. An ad against Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, says Brown is âtoo liberal for Ohioâ because he voted âto let transgender biological men participate in womenâs sports.â
An ad in Wisconsin says Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin âvoted to let biological men into womenâs sports.â
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., âvoted to let men compete against our girls,â and âthose arenât Montana values,â another ad running in Montana says.
Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump pledged to âbanâ transgender-identifying biological males from competing in womenâs sports in a town hall with only female voters hosted by Fox Newsâ Harris Faulkner on Wednesday.
Trump referenced an incident last week in which San Joseâs Fleming spiked a volleyball in the face of a San Diego State womenâs volleyball player, knocking her to the ground.
âI saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,â he said. âBut other people, even in volleyball, theyâve been permanentlyâI mean, theyâve been really hurt badly. Women playing men.â
North Carolina high school volleyball player Payton McNabb suffered a concussion and neck injury in November 2022 after a transgender opponent spiked the ball in her face at an estimated 76 mph.
The net in menâs volleyball is more than 7.5 inches higher than in the womenâs game to compensate for the increased velocity, jump height, and power men have. Even men would be more likely to get concussions if they played volleyball against each other with a womenâs net height, according to Marshi Smith of the Independent Council on Womenâs Sports.Â
The mother of a Nevada womenâs volleyball player told The Daily Signal she is proud of her daughterâs team. The mother asked to remain anonymous for her daughterâs privacy.
âIâm dumbfounded how the trans group asks for âtolerance,â yet when biological females ask for safe places in our locker rooms (which is supposed to be a given under Title IX), fair competition, and safety on the court,â the mother said, âwe are denied and labeled hateful and transphobic.â
This article was originally published at www.dailysignal.com