Boise State’s volleyball team is forfeiting its upcoming match against San Jose State and withdrawing from the Mountain West Conference tournament, it said in a statement Wednesday night, hours after winning a first-round game to secure a spot in the semifinals against the Spartans — a team that sits at the center of a dispute about transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Boise State forfeited two regular-season games against SJSU earlier this season instead of competing against an alleged transgender player on the Spartans’ roster. Now, the Broncos have said they’ll forgo another match and chance to continue competing for a potential bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans received a first-round bye, and with Boise State’s withdrawal from the game scheduled for Friday, they will advance to the championship match on Saturday in Las Vegas.
No. 6 Boise State beat No. 3 Utah State in four sets on Wednesday.
“The decision to not continue to play in the 2024 Mountain West Volleyball Championship tournament was not an easy one,” Boise State said in its statement. “Our team overcame forfeitures to earn a spot in the tournament field and fought for the win over Utah State in the first round on Wednesday. They should not have to forgo this opportunity while waiting for a more thoughtful and better system that serves all athletes.”
No. 1 Colorado State and No. 5 San Diego State are slated to play in the other semifinal match on Friday. No. 2 San Jose State received six wins due to conference opponents forfeiting during the season. Colorado State and San Diego State previously played the Spartans rather than forfeiting.
The Mountain West said Thursday that decisions to forfeit matches are at the schools’ discretion and are considered losses.
“San Jose State will advance to the MW Women’s Volleyball Championship final,” the Mountain West said in a statement.
Four other schools — Southern Utah, Utah State, Wyoming and Nevada — have forfeited matches against San Jose State since late September. Players from several of those schools are among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in Colorado against the Mountain West and its commissioner, Gloria Nevarez, alleging San Jose State and the conference violated the U.S. Constitution and Title IX by allowing a transgender athlete to play for a women’s sports team.
On Tuesday, a federal appellate court denied the plaintiffs’ emergency injunction request seeking to declare the SJSU player who they allege is transgender ineligible for the conference tournament. That decision upheld a ruling by a district judge, Kato Crews, issued the day prior. Both Crews and the two-person panel for the appellate court ruled that the plaintiffs failed to establish irreparable harm by allowing the alleged transgender athlete to compete.
The Athletic is not naming the alleged transgender athlete because the athlete has not been publicly identified. The school has not publicly confirmed whether the athlete is transgender. Crews, in his decision Monday, wrote, “No Defendant disputed that SJSU rosters a trans woman volleyball player.”
Wyoming and Nevada did not qualify for the conference tournament. Southern Utah does not compete in the conference.
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