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CV NEWS FEED // The University of Nevada women’s volleyball team has forfeited its match against San Jose State University’s team — the culmination of a nearly two-week-long controversy between the Nevada team and its university’s administration over playing against a team with a male player.
USA Today reports that the University of Nevada announced on October 24 that its team would not play the game, scheduled for October 26, due to a lack of players. Nevada is the fifth team to forfeit a game against San Jose.
The game was initially supposed to take place in Nevada, but, on October 22, both teams decided to move the game to San Jose State.
USA Today reported, “This was seen as a way for Nevada to avoid having to pay San Jose State’s travel costs for a game that was unlikely to happen and also spare Spartans players from possible abuse and harassment.”
The University of Nevada has stated that it would not penalize players who refused to participate in the match, as CatholicVote previously reported.
The University of Nevada had told news outlet Outkick on October 3 in an exclusive statement that the team would play San Jose, despite controversy over the team’s male player.
Nevada’s team captain Sia Liilii stated, “The school released that statement without consulting our team at all. We were pretty upset that we were not made aware that a statement was going to come out.”
The team announced on October 13 that they would not play San Jose.
We, the University of Nevada Reno women’s volleyball team, forfeit against San Jose State University and stand united in solidarity with the volleyball teams of Southern Utah University, Boise State University, the University of Wyoming, and Utah State University. We demand that our right to safety and fair competition on the court be upheld. We refuse to participate in any match that advances injustice against female athletes.
The school responded by announcing on October 14 that the university “intends to move forward with the match as scheduled.”
On October 16, Liilii reiterated to the press that none of the team members would play San Jose, despite the University of Nevada’s public statement on October 14 that the team would “move forward with the match as scheduled.”
