The University of Nevada, Reno officially announced on Friday that its women’s volleyball team will forfeit its game against San Jose State on Saturday.
Nevada is the fifth team to forfeit its match against San Jose State amid an ongoing national controversy over a transgender player, Blaire Fleming, on the team and another player engaged in a lawsuit over never being told that player was a biological male, according to the lawsuit.
Nevada cited not having enough players to compete in the match for forfeiting after its players expressed a desire and intention not to compete against San Jose State.
“Due to not having enough players to compete, the University of Nevada women’s volleyball team will not play its scheduled Mountain West Conference match at San José State on Saturday, Oct. 26. Per Mountain West Conference policy, the match will be recorded as a conference loss for Nevada,” Nevada announced in a statement early on Friday morning.
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San Jose State responded to the forfeit in a statement to Fox News Digital.
San Jose State volleyball player Brooke Fleming is in the middle of the controversy. FOX Sports
“Our athletes all comply with NCAA and Mountain West Conference policies and they are eligible to play under the rules of those organizations. We will continue to take measures to prioritize the health and safety of our students while they pursue their earned opportunities to compete,” the statement read.
Nevada players, including team captain Sia Liillii, spoke out against the notion of competing against a transgender player in the weeks leading up to the cancelation after voting to forfeit it on Oct. 14. The players even went so far as to schedule a press conference alongside OutKick contributor and women’s athlete activist Riley Gaines to go on at the same time as the game on Saturday.
“We were pretty upset after that statement came out from our university,” Liilii told Yahoo Sports. “It just hit us that we needed to talk about what we wanted to do as a group, make a decision and stand by it.”
However, Nevada would not officially forfeit the game until Friday morning, citing state law.
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Nevada’s Sia Liillii spoke out on the team’s decision. Sia Liillii/Instagram
“The vast majority of our team decided this is something we wanted to take a stand on,” Liilii told the website. “We didn’t want to play against a male player.
“In all of our team meetings it just kept coming back to the fact that men do not belong in women’s sports. If you’re born a biological male, you don’t belong in women’s sports. It’s not even about this individual athlete. It’s about fair competition and safety for everyone.”
The Nevada state 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 Democrat from North Las Vegas who co-sponsored the bill to get it on the ballot, said the law has helped transgender people maintain their identity.
Multiple schools have forfeited against San Jose State FOX Sports
“The university made the decision not to declare a forfeiture and move forward with hosting the match as scheduled based on several factors. As a public university, the university is legally prohibited by Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution and other laws and regulations to declare a forfeit for reasons related to gender identity or expression,” a Nevada spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital.
On Tuesday, both Nevada and San Jose State announced that the match would be moved from Nevada’s campus in Reno to San Jose State’s campus in the Bay Area in California, claiming the location change was “in the best interest of both programs and the well-being of the student-athletes, coaches, athletic staff and spectators.”
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San Jose State would have needed to be at the site of the match, however, in order to receive a forfeit victory if no Nevada players end up playing. By moving the site of the match to the San Jose State campus, then the Spartan players would not have to make the trip to Nevada in order to secure the forfeit victory. So, by making this change, San Jose State will get to claim a forfeited victory if no Nevada players choose to play, without leaving their home state.
Nevada’s volleyball team Sia Liillii/Instagram
Now that the match has been officially forfeited, no one will have to do any traveling.
Nevada joins Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State, which all have officially forfeited their scheduled games against San Jose State.
San Jose State player Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit headed by OutKick host and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA due to its policies on gender identity. Slusser joined this lawsuit because she claims that she has had to share a court, a locker room and even a room on overnight trips with her teammate Fleming without having ever been told that Fleming was a biological male.
Security concerns and threats against San Jose State players have made traveling for matches a high-risk endeavor for the lady Spartans. San Jose State previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that police protection had been assigned to the team, shortly after getting the first news of an opponent forfeiting, when Southern Utah announced that it would not play its match against the Spartans in September.
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“One of my teammates got a DM, basically saying that she, and then my team, needed to keep my distance from me on gameday against Colorado State, because it wasn’t going to be a good situation for me to be in and that my team needed to keep their distance,” Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “They needed to keep their distance from me during the game, because something was going to happen to me.
“This was the first physical threat when we could easily see that they wanted to physically harm one of us.”
San Jose State players huddle before an NCAA college volleyball match against Colorado State on Oct. 3, 2024. AP
In June, a survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago asked respondents to weigh in on whether transgender athletes of both sexes should be permitted to participate in sports leagues that correspond to their preferred gender identity instead of their biological sex.
Sixty-five percent answered that it should either be never or rarely allowed. When those polled were asked specifically about adult transgender female athletes competing on women’s sports teams, 69% opposed it.
The United Nations released study findings that say nearly 900 biological females have fallen short of the podium because they were beaten out by transgender athletes.
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The study, titled “Violence against women and girls in sports,” said that more than 600 athletes did not medal in more than 400 competitions in 29 different sports, totaling over 890 medals, according to information obtained up to March 30.
“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-sex category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against males,” the report said.
Former President Donald Trump has gone so far as to advocate for a ban, in a recent town hall event on Fox News.
“We’re not going to let it happen,” Trump said of the issue. “We stop it, we stop it, we absolutely stop it. We can’t have it.
“You just ban it. The president bans it. You don’t let it happen. It’s not a big deal.”
The movie is screening in an unprecedented 125 cinemas nationwide from its opening night – a triumph for Cornwall’s hugely respected rising star director
A Cornish director’s latest film has been given an unbelievable rating by Rotten Tomatoes. Mark Jenkin, the writer and director behind Enys Men and Bait, releases his latest movie, Rose of Nevada, this month.
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The 50-year-old is no stranger to good ratings with his biggest work to date, Bait, filmed in Cornwall, getting a 100 per cent rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. But his most recent work has just done something equally incredible with a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes a day before its release date.
The movie, Rose of Nevada, is a British science fiction drama film written, edited, composed and directed by Mr Jenkin. It has been incredibly well received with critics describing it as “terrifically atmospheric” and “superbly visceral filmmaking”.
Hilary A White, writing for the Irish Independent, says: “Jenkin leaves plenty of space between story and audience, compiling a tale that feels cobbled together from stained Polaroids, dream snatches and fleeting glimpses.”
Deborah Ross, writing for The Independent, had this to say: “Though it’s about how we carry the past and what can be lost in a single generation, the film is never nostalgic or sentimental. It’s not Back to the Future. It’s terrifically atmospheric, thrumming with foreboding and dread.”
The movie, which was released in UK and Irish cinemas on Friday (April 24), tells the story of a mysterious boat that returns to a village 30 years after vanishing. Two men join its crew, hoping for better fortune. After one voyage, they find themselves transported back in time, mistaken for the original crew.
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Rose of Nevada is screening in 125 cinemas nationwide from its opening night, including all 10 of the Merlin chain sites in the South West, including Bodmin, Falmouth, Helston, Penzance, Redruth and St Ives.
BFI Distribution has confirmed big screen showings in another 70-plus cinemas a little later. The spread is from the Shetland Islands in the North, to Jersey (Channel Islands) in the South, to Triskel in Eire in the West to Broadstairs in Kent in the East.
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LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Special Olympics Nevada invited community members to make a splash for inclusion at the Vegas Plunge at Cowabunga Bay on Saturday.
Organizers encouraged people to “hop, skip, run, jump, or dive” into the Henderson waterpark to support Special Olympics Nevada’s sports, education, leadership, and athlete health programs. While polar plunges are typically associated with colder climates, the event puts “a Vegas twist on this classic event.”
This year’s theme is “superheroes,” with participants encouraged to wear costumes. All plungers received a Vegas Plunge T-shirt, breakfast, tickets to Cowabunga Bay for the day, and the chance to support Special Olympics Nevada athletes.
The event was hosted by JayBee Beasley and included the fifth annual Rubber Duck Derby presented by Columbia Bank. Hundreds of rubber ducks raced around the lazy river, and attendees had a chance to win items including staycations, sporting events, golf packages, and jewelry.
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Liz Volpe is the Developmental Director for Special Olympics Nevada and says the Vegas Plunge is their signature event and, “We create inclusive opportunities for individuals with intellectual needs.”
Proceeds from the Polar Plunge are expected to support year-round sports training and competition for more than 3,978 Special Olympics Nevada athletes statewide.
Organizers said contributions and involvement also help athletes achieve their goals, live healthier lives, and feel included in the community.
Gold sponsors included Greenberg Traurig and The Raiders. Silver sponsors were Columbia Bank and MoneyTree. Bronze sponsors included David and Gail Bowman, Jomsom Staffing Services, and Renewal by Andersen.
A pedestrian was killed in a fatal crash on Interstate 15 just north of Washington Avenue in Las Vegas on Friday night, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.
The crash, which happened just before 9:30 p.m. Friday, involved a pickup truck and a pedestrian the Highway Patrol’s trooper Shawn Haggstrom said in an email. The pedestrian, who was identified as a man, was confirmed dead at the scene.
The driver of the pickup truck stayed at the scene and was cooperating with investigators, the Highway Patrol said.
The crash has closed down all travel lanes of the northbound I-15 at Washington. The Interstate 11 ramp to the I-15 is also closed, Haggstrom said. All northbound I-15 traffic was being diverted off at the D Street off-ramp.
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It wasn’t known how long the closures would last, Haggstrom said.
Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com