LAS VEGAS In Saturday’s Mountain West tournament final, San Jose State’s volleyball team—the focus of a national discussion over women’s sports participation—lost to Colorado State 27-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-16, bringing the Spartans’ season to an end.
The conference’s automatic berth to the 64-team NCAA Tournament went to the Rams (20-10).
The season at San Jose State was characterized by forfeits, few demonstrations, and the discussion of gender identity turning into a political issue during an election year. 14-6 was the Spartan score.
In a statement released by the sports department, Spartans coach Todd Kress stated, “I will not sugarcoat our reality for the last two months.” In accordance with the established Mountain West and NCAA regulations of play, our team was ready and prepared for every game. We didn’t deny anyone the chance to participate.
Unfortunately, several people who had played this same team for years without any problems decided not to play us this season. We didn’t celebrate any wins by forfeiture, to be clear. Rather, we prepared for the consequences. With every forfeiture announcement, people sent vile, cruel remarks to our student-athletes, coaching staff, and many others connected to our program.
The Mountain West tournament was not the end of the controversy.
Hours after defeating Utah State to guarantee a berth against the Spartans in Friday’s semifinals, Boise State, which twice skipped regular-season games against San Jose State, withdrew from the conference tournament on Wednesday night.
Although the Broncos did not specifically state their reasons for pulling out, players from a number of different schools recently sued the league and San Jose State officials in Colorado, demanding that a Spartans player be prohibited from playing in the tournament. They named a transgender player on the San Jose State volleyball team and referenced unidentified reports claiming she was on the team.
The player was permitted to participate when U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Kato Crews in Denver issued a ruling on Monday, which was upheld the next day by a federal appeals court.
San Jose State was seeded second in the conference tournament and was given a first-round bye after suffering six forfeit victories as a result of opponents’ boycotts during the regular season.
It’s been one of the hardest seasons I’ve ever had, and I know that many of our players and the staff who have been there for us the entire time feel the same way,” Kress said. Despite the outside commotion, my top priorities have been keeping our attention on the court and making sure my players are safe and well overall.
Mountain West members Wyoming, Utah State, Nevada, and Southern Utah, in addition to Boise State, canceled games against the Spartans this season. Without giving more information, Nevada’s athletes stated that they would not take part in any competition that promotes discrimination against female athletes.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding what might happen on Saturday, Colorado State decided to play San Jose State in both the regular season and the conference championship. The day proved to be somewhat ordinary.
There were no demonstrators outside Cox Pavilion, and the about 100 spectators watching the final match showed no overt evidence of animosity.
Colorado State coach Emily Kohan stated, “We’ve discussed it every week that we have to play with the extra noise and minimize the time you spend on social media and maximize the time we spend on our scouting report and controlling what we can control.” We have no control over what the audience will do, what lines will form, or what will occur. With every opponent we’ve faced this year, we’ve demonstrated that we can dictate how we play on our side.
San Jose State has not acknowledged that it has a transgender women’s volleyball player, despite various media outlets reporting those and other details. Because the player has not made any public remarks regarding her gender identity and has turned down an interview request from school officials, the Associated Press is not revealing her name.
Before the most recent election, transgender women’s involvement in women’s sports became a contentious political issue.
— AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson
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