San Jose State’s volleyball workforce is at present assured to face a workforce within the upcoming Mountain West Match that has already forfeited to it in the course of the common season.
San Jose State has had six of its convention wins this season awarded through forfeit amid a nationwide controversy over a trans athlete on the workforce.
With these wins, the workforce completed with a 12-6 convention document and has earned a first-round bye within the upcoming match.
Now, they’re assured to play the semifinal. And the opponent they’re set to face in that match is assured to be one of many 4 groups that refused to play them within the common season.
Utah State and Boise State are set to play within the quarterfinal match that can decide who faces the Spartans within the subsequent spherical.
Boise State was so unwilling to play San Jose State in the course of the common season that it forfeited two scheduled matches towards the Spartans, taking a pair of convention losses on its document.
In the meantime, Utah State, which solely forfeited one recreation, has joined a lawsuit towards The Mountain West over the presence of Fleming because it seeks to have that loss restored.
On the opposite aspect of the bracket, Colorado State holds the No. 1 seed within the match. Colorado State performed each video games towards San Jose State this yr, because the groups break up the sequence. Fresno State and San Diego States, two different groups that performed the Spartans amid the controversy this yr, will face off within the quarterfinal for the best to face Colorado State.
However there’s sure to be uncertainty in San Jose State’s semifinal, no matter what workforce advances to that spherical, underneath the present setup.
Spartans co-captain Brooke Slusser, who’s engaged in two lawsuits over the presence of her trans teammate Blaire Fleming, beforehand informed Fox Information Digital that her workforce doesn’t even know if their upcoming match opponents will face them.
“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 mentioned. “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.”
A Mountain West spokesperson beforehand informed Fox Information digital that the convention is getting ready for San Jose State, and all of its opponents to compete, but additionally has a plan in place within the occasion of forfeits. That plan features a willingness to acknowledge the winner of the convention last if their theoretical opponent in that recreation had been to forfeit, the spokesperson mentioned.
“If we get to a championship game, and it’s San Jose State vs. whoever, if that institution forfeits the game, then San Jose State wins that match, and then they are tournament champions. And they would be the automatic qualifier out of the Mountain West,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Nevertheless, that plan might change pending a ruling by a federal choose in Colorado after an emergency listening to on Thursday. Decide Kato Crews presided over a listening to after plaintiffs, together with Utah State, contested that Fleming shouldn’t be allowed to compete within the match.
Crews, who was appointed by President Biden in January, devoted the primary 45 minutes of the listening to to a debate between the plaintiffs and defendants over what pronouns to make use of when describing Fleming and whether or not Fleming’s title must be used in the course of the listening to for the sake of privateness.
The choose ultimately determined to make use of she/her pronouns when referring to Fleming however informed everybody else they might use no matter pronouns they wished.
Crews concluded the listening to by saying he’ll ship a ruling on the case in a “timely fashion.” The match is about to start subsequent Wednesday.
San Jose State has repeatedly defended the presence of Fleming on the workforce.
“Our athletes all comply with NCAA and Mountain West Conference policies and are eligible to play under the rules of those organizations. Our volleyball team members have earned the right to compete, and we are deeply disappointed for them and with them that they are being denied those opportunities through cancellations and forfeits. We are also proud of how they have persevered through these challenges on the court,” an announcement offered to Fox Information Digital by a college spokesperson mentioned.
