EXCLUSIVE: In October, players on the University of Nevada Reno women’s volleyball team were involved in a highly publicized dispute with its university and athletics department over whether to play a match against San Jose State University.

San Jose State, at the time, listed one trans athlete.

The Nevada players privately approached university administrators to express their desire to forfeit the game and join four other programs that refused to play SJSU. But Nevada did not grant that request and instead released a statement insisting they would play the game. Nevada also insisted that its players would be allowed to skip the contest without facing discipline.

The team ultimately lost the day before the game was due to be played, due to not having enough players. However, the university has said it had discussions with the players about potential “legal issues” that would arise if the game was not played.

“University administrators met with the Nevada volleyball team and discussed scenarios of what could happen if they chose not to play. One of the scenarios discussed involved possible legal issues for violating the Nevada Constitution,” read a statement that was provided exclusively to Pakinomist Digital by the University of Nevada, Reno.

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The state constitution was revised in 2022 when Democratic lawmakers voted to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, which added gender identity to its list of diversity classifications protected under state law.

“The University of Nevada was prohibited by law and regulation from forfeiting for reasons related to gender identity or expression. As a state university, forfeiture for reasons involving gender identity or expression may itself constitute discrimination and violate the Nevada Constitution,” Nevada’s statement read.

Nevada’s statement was in response to allegations made by Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) co-founder Marshi Smith.

Smith met and spoke with several players on the Nevada team during their dispute and is leading the legal advocacy group that has filed a lawsuit against San Jose State and the Mountain West Conference over its handling of the situation involving the trans athlete.

“At UNR, school administrators warned athletes that they could face legal action if they refused to compete against SJSU’s team, which included a male starter,” Smith told Pakinomist Digital.

The dispute between the players escalated into a national controversy that even gained mainstream political attention in the weeks leading up to the November election.

Nevada players, including captain Sia Liilii, publicly spoke out against the university several times for its refusal to forfeit the game. Trump’s Director of National Intelligence presumptive nominee Tulsi Gabbard and former Nevada US Senate candidate Sam Brown even visited the team for a photo shoot and interview.

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The scale of the controversy only increased as the October 26 fight date approached. On October 22, 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 the Bay Area of ​​California, claiming that the location change was “in the best interest of both the programs and the well.” – the athletes, the coaches, the athletic staff and the spectators.

But then, the day before the game, Nevada announced that its team would forfeit, citing the fact that it did not have enough players willing to participate. Nevada took a loss on its record for the game, then went just 1-7 to end the season.

Nevada players have previously spoken about pressure from the university to play the game at a news conference at their university. It was held on the day of the originally scheduled match on October 26.

Liilii broke down in tears from the moment she took the podium as she recounted her experience telling school officials she did not want to compete against a transgender player.

“We felt unsafe and dismissed,” Liilii said sobbing. “We met with our school officials to give them our team’s new statement, but they wouldn’t even hear it. We were told that we weren’t educated enough and that we didn’t understand the science. We were told to reconsider our position .”

Nevada sophomore Masyn Navarro claimed her teammates had been told to “keep quiet” about the controversy during the press conference.

“It shouldn’t be so difficult for women to stand up. But we will now take this opportunity to stand up as a team as some of us have been told to keep quiet,” Navarro said.

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Nevada athletic director Stephanie Rempe previously issued a statement to Pakinomist Digital addressing the allegations made at the press conference.

“I did not tell, and I am unaware of, any member of the administrative athletics team telling members of our women’s volleyball team that they were ‘not educated enough,’ that they ‘didn’t understand the science,’ that they should reconsider their position, or that they should ‘keep quiet’ regarding their participation in an October 26 game scheduled against San Jose State University.”

Rempe said she had offered an apology to the players regarding how they were informed that the university planned to continue with the game even after the players had voted to forfeit.

“On October 14 and 22, I spoke with the team for less than five minutes each time, and those meetings were operational. In all three meetings, I shared our sincere apologies for not sharing the statement released on October 3. for their game against UNLV As has been said on multiple occasions, we continue to support the rights of those volleyball players who choose and choose not to participate,” Rempe said.

Article I, Section 24 of the Nevada Constitution provides that “Equal rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this state or any of its political subdivisions because of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, parentage or national origin.”

But Liilii is now one of 11 former or current Mountain West volleyball players involved in the lawsuit against San Jose State and the Mountain West for its handling of the situation involving the trans athlete.

San Jose State co-captain Brooke Slusser is leading the case and is involved in a separate lawsuit against the NCAA citing her experience of having to share a team, bedroom and locker room with the trans athlete while knowledge of the player’s birth gender was actively withheld from her for an entire season at the school and the conference.

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The other players on the plaintiff list are Alyssa Sugai, Elle Patterson, Nicanora Clarke, Kaylie Ray, Macey Boggs, Sierra Grizzle, Jordan Sandy, Katelyn Van Kirk and Kiersten Van Kirk. Former SJSU assistant volleyball coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who was suspended by San Jose State after filing a Title IX complaint alleging the university gave favorable treatment to the trans player, is also a plaintiff.

Smith told Pakinomist Digital that some athletes have expressed fear of retaliation from their schools when deciding whether or not to seek their help.

“The most common first question we hear from NCAA female athletes seeking support is, ‘What can my school or the NCAA do to retaliate if I speak out against allowing men in women’s sports?’ They’re often afraid of losing scholarships or being kicked off their team,” Smith told Pakinomist Digital.

“The first assurance we provide is that these athletes have a constitutional right to free speech. They can speak out or forfeit in protest of discrimination, violations of Title IX, or increased safety risks when competing against a male athlete—without fear of retaliation, regardless of the lies their schools may tell them.”