Judge denies request to rule SJSU volleyball player ineligible

The San Jose State women’s volleyball team is eligible to play in the Mountain West Conference tournament with its full roster, a federal judge in Denver ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews denied a motion filed by 12 plaintiffs against the Mountain West that would have rendered one of the SJSU players ineligible and removed wins from the team.

The lawsuit was filed Nov. 13 by SJSU co-captain Brooke Slusser, SJSU associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, and 10 other current and former Mountain West volleyball players. It asked for emergency injunctive relief to render an SJSU volleyball player, who is alleged to be transgender, ineligible.

The Mountain West tournament is scheduled to start Wednesday in Las Vegas.

“All San Jose State University student-athletes are eligible to participate in their sports under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules,” the university said in a statement. “We are gratified that the court rejected an eleventh-hour attempt to change those rules. Our team looks forward to competing in the Mountain West volleyball tournament this week.”

The volleyball player has not spoken about her identity, and San Jose State has not commented on her identity due to federal privacy laws. ESPN is not naming the player.

In his ruling, Crews did not weigh the fairness or safety issues that the plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit. Instead, he ruled that the emergency nature of the hearing was unnecessary because the Mountain West’s transgender participation policy had been in place since 2022 and that the forfeiting teams were aware of the policy.

“The Court finds the movants’ delay was not reasonable, there is no evidence to suggest they were precluded from seeking emergency relief earlier, and the rush to litigate these complex issues now over a mandatory injunction places a heavy lift on the MWC at the eleventh hour,” Crews wrote.

A notice of appeal has been filed in the 10th Circuit Court in Denver. Attorney William Bock said the plaintiffs planned to ask the Court of Appeals “to protect the women volleyball players who are about to compete for a conference championship.”

A date for the appeal has not been set.

Attorneys originally argued their case in Denver on Thursday at the Byron G. Rogers Courthouse. Originally scheduled to be an evidentiary hearing featuring witness testimony, Crews switched the hearing to oral arguments from attorneys only. Although there were no witnesses, several supporters of the plaintiffs were in attendance.

Four Mountain West teams — Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada — forfeited matches against San Jose State this season. None of the schools has explicitly stated a reason for forfeiting, but the Nevada players held a rally in Reno on Oct. 26 advocating for the exclusion of transgender women in women’s sports. Southern Utah University of the Western Athletic Conference was the first team to refuse to play SJSU when it canceled its match scheduled for Sept. 14.

At the behest of Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Utah State intervened to support the lawsuit in part, arguing that the Mountain West’s transgender athlete policy violates Title IX and requesting injunctive relief that would stop the conference from enforcing that policy at the upcoming conference tournament.

The athlete in question has played for San Jose State for the past three seasons.

On Sept. 23, Slusser announced she had joined a lawsuit against the NCAA, stating that her teammate is transgender and poses a safety risk to her teammates and to competitors across the conference. Both lawsuits are funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports.

The top six teams qualified for the Mountain West tournament, and the top two seeds received a bye into the semifinals. San Jose State, with a 12-6 record, is the No. 2 seed. Six of its 12 wins came via forfeit.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to represent San Jose State University and the 19 young women who have so valiantly helped us get to this point,” SJSU coach Todd Kress told ESPN.

The Spartans are scheduled to play the winner of the Utah State-Boise State game Friday. Both of those teams forfeited against SJSU during the regular season. In a request from the Associated Press, Boise State associate athletic director Chris Kutz declined to comment on whether the Broncos would play SJSU if they won their first-round tournament game. Utah State associate athletic director Doug Hoffman told the AP that the university is reviewing the order and the team is preparing for Wednesday’s match.

Utah State’s Kaylie Ray and Boise State’s Katelyn Van Kirk and Kiersten Van Kirk were among the 12 plaintiffs in the lawsuit that sought an emergency injunction to keep the San Jose State player out of the tournament.

The conference said it was “satisfied” with the judge’s decision and would continue upholding policies established by its board of directors, which “directly align with NCAA and USA Volleyball.”

“We are excited to proceed with the Mountain West Conference Women’s Volleyball Championship,” its statement added.

The winner of the Mountain West tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which begins Dec. 5. That bracket will be revealed Sunday.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.