San Jose State, mired in controversy, loses in Mountain West final

Colorado State ended a volleyball season filled with protests in front of a peaceful crowd Saturday at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion, but litigation and national controversy will rage on.

There were constant reminders of that reality as the top-seeded Rams beat San Jose State 27-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-16 in the Mountain West championship game, earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Before purple streamers could explode from the ceiling and land on the group of celebrating Colorado State players on the court, a prepared statement from Spartans coach Todd Kress was emailed to reporters in attendance.

“This has been one of the most difficult seasons I’ve ever experienced and I know this is true as well for many of our players and the staff who have been supporting us all along,” Kress said. “… I will not sugarcoat our reality for the last two months.”

Kress was referring to the national controversy surrounding the participation of transgender athletes in sports, which set fire to the Spartans within the first month of the season and never relented.

The contention wasn’t visible during Saturday’s game. Blaire Fleming had 17 kills for the Spartans, working with co-captain Brooke Slusser, who had 34 assists.

Slusser is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against the NCAA in September and another that included the Mountain West in its group of defendants on Nov. 13. In both filings, Slusser claimed Fleming should have been removed from the team on the allegation that she is transgender.

The more recent lawsuit asked for an emergency injunction to have Fleming or the Spartans disqualified from the tournament, but U.S. Judge Shane Kato Crews ruled Monday that Fleming was allowed to play. A federal appeals court upheld the decision a day later.

The next hearing in the suit against the Mountain West is scheduled for January.

‘We made a statement’

There were tears in Colorado State coach Emily Kohan’s eyes as she addressed reporters after the win.

“We stuck together through a lot, against a lot of odds and a lot of negative energy, and we controlled our own destiny,” she said. “I think we made a statement in the process.”

Colorado State was the only team positioned against San Jose State in the tournament bracket that opted to pay the game.

During the regular season, the Spartans received six forfeit wins from four Mountain West teams (Boise State, Utah State, Wyoming and UNR). Per Mountain West policy, those forfeitures counted as conference wins for the Spartans, helping them secure the No. 2 seed in the tournament, which came with a first-round bye.

After No. 6 Boise State upset No. 3 Utah State to advance to the semifinals, the Broncos forfeited to San Jose State for a third time, giving the Spartans a path straight to the championship game.

Colorado State played all of its scheduled games against San Jose State, going 1-1 in the regular season.

When asked if she had any stance on transgender athletes and whether they belong, Kohan declined to comment.

She said the team was motivated to compete by the desire for redemption from a loss to Fresno State in the conference championship game last season, and to finish strong for the sixth-year seniors whose careers were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conference player of the year Malaya Jones, a redshirt senior, led Colorado State on Saturday with a game-high 26 kills.

No joy in forfeitures

No coach other than Kohan spoke to reporters during the tournament, and no players from any team were made available.

Kohan said the decision was made to protect her players. Kress alluded to the same sentiment in his statement as he addressed the narrative that the Spartans were “taking away opportunities” from other teams by allowing Fleming to play like she had for two previously uneventful seasons.

“Our team prepared and was ready to play each match according to established Mountain West and NCAA rules of play. … Sadly, others who for years have played this same team without incident chose not to play us this season,” he said.

“To be clear, we did not celebrate a single win by forfeiture. Instead, we braced for the fallout. Each forfeiture announcement unleashed appalling, hateful messages individuals chose to send directly to our student-athletes, our coaching staff, and many associated with our program.”

‘Really difficult situation’

Fleming went down to the court to hug Colorado State players after they were done posing with the trophy. She was the only San Jose State player to do so.

When asked about the moment, Kohan said she was proud of the way her team navigated their relationships with Fleming.

“No one from (Colorado State) was negative in this whole thing,” she said. “Nobody came and blamed anyone else, and nobody tried to point fingers. We’ve tried to make this really difficult situation as neutral or as controlled on our side as possible. It’s been a dynamic that we’ve handled really well … and not be nasty humans in the process.”

The term neutrality likely could not be applied to the pair that sat behind San Jose State’s bench Saturday.

Marshi Thomas, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, sat next to suspended San Jose State assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose. Thomas’ organization is funding the two active lawsuits seeking to have transgender athletes banned from sports, while Batie-Smoose is a plaintiff in the suit against the Mountain West.

Batie-Smoose alleged that Fleming conspired with Colorado State players to fix a game in the regular season.

Two Spartans players went to embrace Batie-Smoose after the loss, one of them sobbing into her arms.

There were no protesters, signs or negative chants during, before or after the game.

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.