San Jose State’s Opponent Boycotts Game Over Transgender Player. Again.

The San Jose State University Spartans women’s volleyball team, which is at the center of a national debate over the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports, advanced to its conference championship on Saturday without having played a single game in the tournament.

After a first-round bye, the team was preparing to play a semifinal match in the Mountain West Conference tournament scheduled for Friday, but the opposing team — Boise State University — refused for the third time to play the Spartans because of their transgender player.

After Boise State beat Utah State University on Friday to qualify for the semifinal in Las Vegas, the players celebrated by cheering and hugging. They talked quietly in a huddle, then cheered again.

Hours later Boise State released a statement that read: “The decision to not continue to play in the 2024 Mountain West Volleyball Championship tournament was not an easy one. Our team overcame forfeitures to earn a spot in the tournament field and fought for the win over Utah State in the first round on Wednesday. They should not have to forgo this opportunity while waiting for a more thoughtful and better system that serves all athletes.”

It was the seventh time this year that a Mountain West team has backed out of a match against San Jose State out of protest over the transgender player, who declined an interview request through a university spokeswoman. Boise State, one of five teams to forfeit games against the Spartans this season, also forfeited two regular season games against them.

Boise State’s decision to forfeit and lose a chance at the final has called even more attention to one of the most complex and polarizing issues of American life: whether a transgender woman can play on a women’s sports team.