The mother of a former Nevada college volleyball player is “traumatized” after her daughter’s school “emotionally blackmailed” players into competing against a California college’s transgender player.
The University of Nevada-Reno scolded its volleyball players in a meeting and informed them they would play after they expressed their desire not to compete against San Jose State University’s Blaire Fleming, according to the UNR mother, April Chainey.
A Title IX officer was not present for meeting, which came after several other schools forfeited their matches against SJSU. The Department of Education recently announced SJSU has broken the law by letting Fleming play.
Chainey said she has filed a Title IX complaint to the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, adding that she felt “disgusted” by the experience.
“UNR Athletics Department discriminated by not suggesting or offering a Title IX officer to be present… I was mad, really mad. I felt like there was nobody there to protect the teams and the players… they really dismissed [the player’s voices] because their voice did not fit in the NCAA gender ideology agenda,” Chainey added.
UNR also raised the prospect of “legal issues” if the school did not play SJSU, which former NCAA swimmer and co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) Marshi Smith took as intimidation.
“There was sweeping intimidation for the girls on UNR’s volleyball team to stand down on their decision not to play San Jose State University. There were multiple different tactics, from emotional blackmail to even insinuation that legal disputes could be brought,” Smith said.
“It was unclear to them exactly what that meant. But when someone in a position of authority threatens you with various consequences for you standing up for your rights, that’s a really serious thing,” Smith added.
Former captain of the UNR women’s volleyball team, Sia Liilii, suggested the school gaslit the team by telling them they should listen to the “facts.” UNR officials said Fleming was on estrogen and testosterone blockers and that the transgender player had “no advantage.”
“This meeting was horrible,” Liilii told Fox News Digital.
The former athlete said players were uncomfortable with the prospect of playing Fleming.
“It took place after the school decided to make a choice for us and it was uncomfortable. They told us there was no advantage by Blaire because she was on estrogen and testosterone blockers in order to level the playing field,” she said. “A bunch of the girls and I expressed not wanting to play for the reasons of safety, fairness, and an opportunity for women in sports being taken away by a male athlete.”
Chainey thinks players on the team were “bullied” for their resistance to playing Fleming, and she felt enraged that the school had to eventually take a loss for the match.
“For them to get punished like that, it’s infuriating, because they shouldn’t have had to take a forfeit, they shouldn’t have taken a loss, because it reflected in their standings,” Chainey said.
UNR would go on to forfeit its match against SJSU, but not specifically because of the transgender player.
The team didn’t have enough players available to compete after they were given a no-consequences out for not playing Fleming. UNR dropped 7 out of its next 8 games to finish the season a paltry 12-17.
SJSU, with Fleming, finished its 2024 season 14-7.
