Judge says San Jose State can stay in MW volleyball tournament

No. 2 seed San Jose State will remain in the six-team bracket for the Mountain West volleyball tournament in Las Vegas with its full roster intact after a decision from a judge in the U.S. District Court for Colorado on Monday.

A lawsuit filed by 12 women against the Mountain West and commissioner Gloria Nevarez on Nov. 13 requested an emergency injunction for San Jose State senior outside hitter Blaire Fleming to be disqualified from the tournament on the allegation that she is transgender.

Judge S. Kato Crews denied the motion about Fleming’s participation, along with motions to change the seeding of the tournament.

The denial said the plaintiffs didn’t justify the necessity for such “drastic” action. It also said the plaintiffs had plenty of time to file the case before this month and avoid an emergency request, as most of their allegations are based on events that occurred in September or earlier.

The plaintiffs filed a notice for emergency appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday in response to the ruling.

The Mountain West tournament begins Wednesday at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion. The Spartans have a first-round bye, with six of their 12 conference wins coming from forfeitures made in protest.

The list of plaintiffs in the lawsuit includes at least two players from each of the four Mountain West teams that forfeited to San Jose State this season — Boise State, Utah State, Wyoming and UNR.

The players claim they are having their constitutional right to free speech and equal protection infringed upon because of the conference’s and the NCAA’s transgender inclusion policies, as well as their Title IX privileges. The lawsuit also alleges that playing against Fleming is dangerous.

Crews’ denial rejected all of those arguments.

San Jose State, along with some of its athletics and communications personnel, were named in the lawsuit along with California State University, the public university system that governs San Jose State.

Both entities released statements Monday expressing satisfaction with the ruling.

“All San Jose State University student-athletes are eligible to participate in their sports under NCAA and Mountain West Conference rules,” San Jose State said in its 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.”

California State University offered similar thoughts in its statement.

“The California State University fully supports its student-athletes and their right to play and compete in the sports they love,” California State University said in its statement. “The CSU does not tolerate discrimination of any kind, on or off the court. We applaud the Court’s decision and will be cheering on the San Jose State University volleyball team as they continue to compete for a championship in the Mountain West Conference tournament.”

San Jose State and Fleming have not spoken about her gender identity, and they are not required to under NCAA and Mountain West policies. Fleming has played for the Spartans for the past three years.

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.