SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) — After University of Nevada women’s volleyball players refused to play against San Jose State University, the school became the fifth school to forfeit a game against the Spartans this season and the decision was applauded by a member of SJSU’s own roster.
SJSU’s women’s volleyball team continues to be at the center of a nationwide debate about the participation of transgender athletes in sports.
The controversy could now cost them their first NCAA tournament appearance in more than two decades.
RELATED: What to know about the San Jose State volleyball team and why opponents are boycotting matches
But it also highlights an increase in hateful rhetoric against the LGBTQ+ community.
“This is not what America is supposed to be,” Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center President Gabrielle Antolovich said. “But it is very dangerous right now.”
RELATED: Mountain West commissioner heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball
The University of Nevada is now the fifth team to forfeit a match against San Jose State, resulting from unconfirmed claims by a Spartans’ volleyball player that one of her own teammates is transgender.
After relocating Saturday’s match to San Jose from Reno, citing the safety of athletes, Nevada school officials said the match would go on.
But several Wolfpack players refused to play in any match that, “advances injustice against female athletes”, forcing the team to forfeit.
Spartans volleyball co-captain Brook Slusser applauded the decision.
She is one of many current and former athletes, part of a lawsuit against the NCAA’s Title IX protections regarding transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Slusser made her first on-camera comments about the forfeitures this season in an exclusive interview with Fox News. She did not respond to our requests for comment.
“This is just an amazing step in the right direction of women’s sports, being able to finally stand up and say, ‘no, this isn’t happening, this isn’t right’,” Slusser said. “And that’s amazing. So, I can’t do anything but support their decision because if I were in their same shoes, I’d do the same thing.”
RELATED: SJSU becomes a target as Trump pledges to ban transgender athletes
Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.
SJSU has beefed up security amid rising threats to the team and coaches.
A spokesperson says its athletes are in compliance with NCAA and conference standards and, “we will continue to take measures to prioritize the health and safety of our students while they pursue their earned opportunities to compete.”
Antolovich loves team sports and the bonds it builds, but fears this situation grown to be about more than one athlete.
“There is a certain fraction of the community that is using transgender folks as a way of bombarding the LGBTQ+ community with hate,” Antolovich said.
RELATED: 2 schools forfeit games against SJSU volleyball amid lawsuit over player’s gender
The Spartans have to play 19-matches to participate in the NCAA tournament, they’re at 14.
With 8 games left, if more forfeitures happen, the Spartans may have to apply for a waiver to allow them to play if they qualify.
SJSU is scheduled to play Wyoming and Boise State in November, two schools who have already forfeited games against the Spartans.
The top-6 teams qualify for the Mountain West Tournament and the Spartans are among those teams right now with a 7-3 conference record following the Nevada forfeiture.
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