EXCLUSIVE: In October, players on the University of Nevada Reno women’s volleyball team were engaged in a highly publicized dispute with its university and athletic department over whether to play a match against San Jose State University. 

San Jose State, at the time, rostered a trans athlete.

The Nevada players approached university administrators privately to express their desire to forfeit the match and join four other programs that refused to play SJSU. But Nevada did not honor that request and instead released a statement insisting it would play the match. Nevada also insisted its players would be allowed to skip the contest without facing discipline. 

The team ultimately forfeited the day before the match was scheduled to be played, due to not having enough players. However, the university has said it had discussions with the players about potential “legal issues” that would emerge if the match were not played. 

“University administrators met with the Nevada volleyball team and discussed scenarios of what could happen if they chose not to play. One of the scenarios that was discussed revolved around possible legal issues for violating the Nevada Constitution,” read a statement that was provided exclusively to Fox News Digital by the University of Nevada, Reno. 

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The state’s constitution was revised in 2022, when Democrat lawmakers voted to adopt the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to its list of diversity classifications that are protected under state law. 

“The University of Nevada was prohibited by laws and regulations to forfeit for reasons related to gender identity or expression. As a State university, a forfeiture for reasons involving gender identity or expression could constitute per se discrimination and violate the Nevada Constitution,” Nevada’s statement read. 

Nevada’s statement was in response to allegations made by co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), Marshi Smith. 

Smith met and spoke with multiple players on the Nevada team during ther dispute, and heads the legal advocacy group that has brought a lawsuit against San Jose State and the Mountain West conference for its handling of the situation involving the trans athlete. 

“At UNR, school administrators warned athletes they could face legal action if they refused to compete against SJSU’s team, which included a male starter,” Smith told Fox News Digital. 

The dispute between the players escalated into a national controversy that even garnered mainstream political attention in the weeks leading up to November’s election. 

Nevada players, including captain Sia Liilii, spoke out publicly against the university multiple times for its refusal to forfeit the match. Trump’s Director of National Intelligence presumptive nominee Tulsi Gabbard and former Nevada U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown even visited the team for a photo-op and interview. 

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The scale of the controversy only heightened as the Oct. 26 match date approached. On Oct. 22, 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.”

But then, the day before the match, Nevada announced that its team would forfeit, citing the fact that it didn’t have enough players who were willing to participate. Nevada took a loss on its record, for the match, then went just 1-7 to finish the season. 

Nevada players previously spoke about pressures they faced from the university to play the match in a press conference at their university. It was held the day of the originally scheduled match on Oct. 26. 

Liilii broke down in tears from the minute she took the podium while she recounted her experience telling school officials she didn’t want to compete against a transgender player.

“We felt unsafe and dismissed,” Liilii said, sobbing. “We met with our school officials to give them our team’s new statement, but they wouldn’t even hear it. We were told that we weren’t educated enough and that we didn’t understand the science. We were told to reconsider our position.” 

Nevada sophomore Masyn Navarro alleged her teammates had been told to “stay quiet” about the controversy during the press conference. 

“It should not be this difficult 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 stay quiet,” Navarro said. 

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Nevada athletic director Stephanie Rempe previously provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing the allegations that were made at the press conference. 

“I did not tell, and am unaware of any member of the athletics administrative team telling members of our women’s volleyball team that they ‘weren’t educated enough,’ that they ‘didn’t understand the science,’ that they should reconsider their position or that they should ‘stay quiet’ regarding their participation in an Oct. 26 match that was scheduled against San Jose State University.”

Rempe said she had offered an apology to the players regarding how they were informed that the university planned to proceed with the game, even after the players had voted to forfeit. 

“On Oct. 14 and Oct. 22, I spoke with the team for less than five minutes each time and those gatherings were operational in nature. At all three meetings, I shared our genuine apology for not sharing the statement released on Oct. 3 in advance of their match against UNLV. As has been stated on multiple occasions, we continue to support the rights of the volleyball players who choose and choose not to participate,” Rempe said.

Article I, Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution provides that “Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this state or any of its political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.”

But Liilii is now one of 11 former or current Mountain West volleyball players engaged in the lawsuit against San Jose State and the Mountain West for its handling of the situation involving the trans athlete. 

San Jose State co-captain Brooke Slusser leads the suit and is engaged in a separate lawsuit against the NCAA citing her experience of having to share a team, bedroom and changing spaces with the trans athlete while knowledge of the player’s birth sex was actively withheld from her for an entire season by the school and conference.

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The other players on the plaintiff list are Alyssa Sugai, Elle Patterson, Nicanora Clarke, Kaylie Ray, Macey Boggs, Sierra Grizzle, Jordan Sandy, Katelyn Van Kirk and Kiersten Van Kirk. Former SJSU Assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who was suspended by San Jose State after filing a Title IX complaint alleging the university gave favorable treatment toward the trans player, is also a plaintiff. 

Smith told Fox News Digital that some athletes have expressed fear of retaliation by their schools when deciding whether or not to seek their help. 

“The most common first question we hear from NCAA female athletes seeking support is: ‘What can my school or the NCAA do to retaliate against me if I speak out against allowing men in women’s sports?’ They’re often terrified of losing scholarships or being kicked off their teams,” Smith told Fox News Digital. 

“The first reassurance we provide is that these athletes have a Constitutional right to free speech. They can speak out or forfeit in protest against discrimination, Title IX violations, or increased safety risks when competing against a male athlete—without fear of retaliation, regardless of the lies their schools may tell them.”

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