The University of Nevada, Reno officially announced Friday that the women’s volleyball team will forfeit its match against San Jose State on Saturday.

Nevada becomes the fifth team to forfeit its game against San Jose State amid an ongoing national controversy over a transgender player on the team and another player embroiled in a lawsuit after never being told that player was a biological male. the lawsuit said.

Nevada cited not having enough players to participate in the game due to forfeit after its players expressed a desire and intention not to compete against San Jose State.

“Because there are not enough players to compete, the University of Nevada women’s volleyball team will not play its scheduled Mountain West Conference match on Saturday, October 26 at San Jose State. Per Mountain West Conference policy, the game will be recorded as a conference loss to Nevada,” Nevada announced in a statement early Friday morning.

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Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown, left, poses with Sia Liilii of Nevada, center right, and former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. (Sam Brown Campaign)

San Jose State responded to the forfeit in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Our athletes all comply with NCAA and Mountain West Conference policies and are eligible to play under the rules of those organizations. We will continue to take steps to prioritize the health and safety of our students as they pursue their earned opportunities to compete.” read the statement.

Nevada players, including team captain Sia Liillii, spoke out against the idea of ​​competing against a transgender player in the weeks leading up to the cancellation after voting to forfeit on Oct. 14. The players even went so far as to schedule a press conference. along with OutKick contributor and women’s athlete activist Riley Gaines to proceed at the same time as Saturday’s competition.

However, Nevada would not officially forfeit the contest until Friday morning, citing state law.

“The University has made the decision not to declare a forfeit and to continue hosting the competition as scheduled based on several factors. As a public university, the University is legally prohibited from doing so by Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution and other laws and regulations to declare a match forfeit for reasons related to gender identity or expression,” a Nevada spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital.

Nevada’s state constitution was revised in 2022 when Nevada voted to pass 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 has helped transgender people maintain their identities.

On Tuesday, both Nevada and San Jose State announced that the game would be moved from Nevada’s campus in Reno to San Jose State’s campus in California’s Bay Area, claiming the location change was “in the best interests of both programs and the welfare organization’. of the student-athletes, coaches, athletic staff and spectators.”

However, San Jose State would have had to be at the site of the game to earn a forfeit victory if no players from Nevada were playing. By moving the location of the match to the San Jose State campus, the Spartan players did not have to make the trip to Nevada to secure the forfeit victory. Therefore, by making this change, San Jose State will be able to claim a forfeit victory if no players from Nevada choose to play without leaving their home state.

Now that the match has been officially forfeited, no one has to travel anymore.

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From left to right, San Jose State setter Brooke Slusser celebrates after scoring a point with libero Randilyn Reeves, outside hitter Blaire Fleming and libero Alessia Buffagni during the first set of an NCAA college volleyball match against Colorado State, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024 , in Fort Collins, Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Nevada joins Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming and Utah State, all of which have officially forfeited their scheduled games against San Jose State.

San Jose State player Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit led by OutKick host and former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines against the NCAA over its gender identity policy. Slusser joined the lawsuit because she claims she was forced to share a court, a locker room and even a room with her teammate Blaire Fleming during late-night outings without ever being told that Fleming was a biological male.

Security concerns and threats against San Jose State players have made traveling for games a risky endeavor for the female Spartans. San Jose State previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that police protection had been assigned to the team shortly after initial news of an opponent forfeit was received when Southern Utah announced it would not play its game against the Spartans in September.

“One of my teammates got a DM basically saying that she, and then my team, had to keep their distance from me on game day against Colorado State because it wouldn’t be a good situation for me to be in and that my team had to keep their distance,” Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview. “They had 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.”

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University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after finishing tied for 5th in the 200 freestyle final at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta , Georgia. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

A survey in June performed by NORC at the University of Chicago asked respondents to share their opinions on whether transgender athletes of both genders should be allowed to participate in sports competitions that correspond with their preferred gender identity rather than their biological sex.

Sixty-five percent responded that this should never or rarely be allowed. When respondents were asked specifically about adult transgender female athletes competing on women’s sports teams, 69% were against it.

The United Nations has released research results showing that nearly 900 biological women did not end up on the podium because they were defeated by transgender athletes.

The study, entitled ‘Violence against women and girls in sports”, said that more than 600 athletes failed to medal in more than 400 competitions in 29 different sports, totaling more than 890 medals, according to information obtained up to March 30.

“The replacement of the female sports category with a mixed-gender category has resulted in an increasing number of female athletes losing opportunities, including medals, when competing against men,” the report said.

Former President Donald Trump even went so far as to call for a ban during 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 forbid it. The president forbids it. You don’t let it happen. It’s no big deal.’

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