By james art 
Players on the University of Nevada, Reno women’s volleyball team held a news conference Saturday to address their school’s reluctance to lose a game against a team with a transgender player.
Along with former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines, multiple players talked about the situation the day they were scheduled to face San Jose State. The program officially announced it would skip Friday’s game due to not having enough players, but the players had told their athletic department they didn’t want to play San Jose State weeks earlier.
Wolf Pack team captain Sia Liilii broke down in tears from the moment she took the podium as she recounted her experience telling school officials she didn’t want to compete against a transgender player, adding she was pressured to do anyway.
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“When the news broke, I was stunned, as were many of my teammates. This is not what we signed up for,” Liilii said emotionally.
Liilii was referring to a statement released by the university on Oct. 13, assuring that the program intends to face San Jose State despite the players voting to forfeit.
“Our university had made the decision for us. They released a statement on our behalf that we would be playing. We weren’t consulted, we weren’t given a voice and we didn’t agree,” Liili said. “It hurts to know that our university is putting us in a position that could potentially hurt us. My teammates and I were very emotional and I’m not sure, I can’t put into words what it feels like to go through something like that and know that we’re all alone.”
Nevada previously provided a statement to Fox News Digital confirming that the players asked to forfeit the game, but were not allowed to do so themselves.
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“The majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team issued a statement to the university informing it that the team has decided to forfeit its scheduled match with San Jose State University. While the players are not authorized to forfeit the game, this decision is one that only the university and our athletics department can officially make,” the statement read.
The university added that each player is free to sit out the game without consequence.
Liilii said Saturday that when her teammates approached school officials expressing their desire to forfeit the game, they were berated for “not understanding the science” and asked to reconsider their position.
“We felt insecure and left out,” Lily said, sobbing. “We met with our school management to give them our team’s new statement, but they didn’t even hear it. We have been told that we are not educated enough and that we do not understand science. They told us to reconsider our position.”
In addition to her university, Liilii also called out the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA, saying the institutions are “failing us.”
Nevada sophomore Masyn Navarro claimed her teammates were told to “shut up” about the altercation during the press conference.
“It shouldn’t be so hard to stand up for women. However, we will now take this opportunity to stand up as a team as some of us have been told to keep quiet,” Navarro said.
Nevada freshman Kinsley Singleton said her teammates have had several meetings in recent weeks and shared their fears of potential injuries if they had to play against a transgender opponent.
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The program previously said it could not forfeit the game because it would be a violation of state law. Article I, Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution states that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this state or any of its political subdivisions because of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation , gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.’
However, this constitution was revised in 2022 when Nevada voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to the list of protections.
Nevada state Sen. Pat Spearman, a North Las Vegas Democrat who co-sponsored the bill to get it on the ballot, said the law helped transgender people maintain their identities.
“As a public university, removal for reasons related to gender identity or expression may constitute discrimination in and of itself and violate the Nevada Constitution,” the university said in a statement.
However, after the controversy gained national attention and it was announced that the game had been moved from Nevada to the Bay Area in California, the program finally declared an official forfeit after it became clear that there would not be enough players to compete .
Nevada is the fifth team it has lost a game against San Jose State, joining Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State. The cancellation comes with a San Jose State player embroiled in a lawsuit against the NCAA for being forced to compete with a transgender teammate who is still on the team.
San Jose State player Brooke Slusser has joined a lawsuit brought by OutKick host and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA over its gender identity policies. Slusser joined the lawsuit because she claims she had to share a court, a locker room and even a room on overnight trips with teammate Blair Fleming, without ever being told that Fleming was a biological male.
San Jose State responded to the seizure in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“All of our athletes comply with NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules and are eligible to play under those organizations’ rules.” We will continue to take measures to prioritize the health and safety of our students as they pursue their hard-earned opportunities to compete,” the statement said.
Nevada players, including Liilii and Sierra Bernard, wrote an op-ed on Fox News Digital Friday praising former President Trump for his stance advocating to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports.
“President Trump has our backs and this election is more important than politics and about leaders who will stand with women on and off the court, protecting our right to compete safely and fairly,” the players wrote. “Like proud female athleteswe will continue to fight for fairness on the court and in women’s sports. But this shouldn’t be a battle we have to take on alone.
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