The captain of the University of Nevada women’s volleyball team spoke out against her school, claiming it “assuaged” the fears players had about competing with a transgender opponent.
Sia Liilii, the senior captain of the Wolf Pack team, claims that she and her teammates had been informing university officials for weeks of their decision to forfeit a game against San Jose State, on whose roster Blaire Fleming, a transgender athlete, occurs.
But instead, it was just a day out when the program announced it would forfeit the game because they didn’t have enough players.
Now the tearful captain has criticized the university for ignoring the team’s concerns about sharing the court with a transgender athlete and not taking their issues seriously.
Sia Liilii, the senior captain of the ‘Wolf Pack,’ led a press conference on Saturday, in which she and her teammates addressed the University of Nevada’s decision to forfeit a game against San Jose State.
“We felt unsafe and dismissed,” Liilii said Saturday during a news conference that also included Riley Gaines.
“We met with our school officials to give them our team’s new statement, but they didn’t even want to hear it.
“We were told we weren’t educated enough and that we didn’t understand the science. We were told to reconsider our position.”
Liilii said she was shocked when the university initially decided to go ahead with its scheduled game against San Jose State despite the team’s impassioned protests.
‘When the news broke, I was stunned, as were many of my teammates. This is not what we signed up for.”
San Jose State’s roster includes transgender athlete Blaire Fleming
At a news conference, the tearful captain blasted the university for ignoring the team’s concerns about sharing the court with a transgender athlete.
The saga came to a head on Oct. 13, when the university released a public statement affirming the program’s determination to compete with San Jose State.
The team’s players had previously voted to forfeit the match. According to freshman Kinsley Singleton, she and her teammates even met privately to discuss their fears about injuries that could be suffered from playing against a transgender opponent.
The school’s announcement felt like an act of betrayal to the young women.
“Our university had made a decision for us,” Liilii explained. “They put out a statement on our behalf saying we were going to play. We were not consulted, we were not given a vote and we did not agree with it.”
Liilii said she was “hurt” knowing the school was willing to put them 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 face something like this and know that we are all on our own.”
Liilii of the University of Nevada women’s volleyball team spoke out against school officials who she said did not take the team’s concerns seriously
The team’s players had previously voted to forfeit the match
Liilii spoke out against her school during a press conference on Saturday
The volleyball star then launched a broader attack aimed at the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA, lamenting that the institutions were “letting them down.”
Later, sophomore Masyn Navarro took the stage and claimed she and her teammates had been urged to “keep quiet” about the incident.
‘It shouldn’t be so 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 remain quiet,” Navarro said.
The school previously defended its actions and choices.
In a statement to Fox Newsa school representative acknowledged that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit the match.
However, they said the ability to make such a decision was the prerogative of “the university and our athletics department.”
The school also noted that players were free to sit out the match without facing any consequences.
They defended their decision not to forfeit by pointing out that doing so might be against the law.
“As a state university, a forfeiture for reasons related to gender identity or expression could necessarily constitute discrimination and violate the Nevada Constitution.”
Nevertheless, Nevada was forced to forfeit on Friday when it became clear they would not have enough players to participate in the game.
Fleming, who plays as an outside and right-side hitter, enjoyed two seasons at San Jose State after previously playing at Coastal Carolina
Fleming, who stands at 6-foot-4, currently ranks fourth in the Mountain West in kills and overall points
This marked the fifth time that a scheduled opponent of San Jose State declined to file a lawsuit against them this season, as Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State and Southern Utah University all made the same decision.
More than a dozen female athletes, including one of Fleming’s teammates, are accusing the NCAA of knowingly violating a law banning sex discrimination by allowing a transgender player to compete in women’s sports.
Fleming, who plays as an outside and right-side hitter, enjoyed two seasons at San Jose State after previously playing at Coastal Carolina.
The player, who stands at 6-foot-4, currently ranks fourth in the Mountain West in kills and overall points.
