A timeline of the San Jose State women’s volleyball season marked by repeated forfeits

A look at key dates before and during the San Jose State women’s volleyball season. The Spartans are 14-6, plus six wins via forfeit by four schools in Mountain West Conference regular-season play. Some players cited fairness in women’s sports as a reason for not playing, with plaintiffs in a lawsuit earlier this year asserting there is a transgender player on the San Jose State team.

Second-seeded San Jose State had been scheduled to play in Friday’s semifinals at the Mountain West Tournament against No. 6 seed Boise State, which announced hours after its win Wednesday over No. 3 Utah State that it would withdraw from the event in Las Vegas and forfeit the match even with an NCAA Tournament berth potentially at stake.

Now, San Jose State moves automatically into Saturday’s championship match against either top-seeded Colorado State or No. 5 seed San Diego State, both of which faced the Spartans this season.

__ March 14: Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines was among more than a dozen college athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in Atlanta, accusing the governing body of violating their Title IX rights by allowing transgender woman Lia Thomas to compete at the national championships in 2022. San Jose State senior setter and co-captain Brooke Slusser, an Alabama transfer from Denton, Texas, later joined the suit.

__ Sept. 14: Southern Utah became the first team to forfeit a match against San Jose State, without specifying why. It was a nonconference contest.

__ Sept. 27: Boise State released a statement announcing its women’s volleyball team wouldn’t play at San Jose State on Sept. 28, but it included no further information on why the decision was made. The school also forfeited its second match against San Jose State, on Nov. 21.

__ Sept. 27: Idaho Gov. Brad Little publicly supported the school, posting on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter: “I applaud (at)BoiseState for working within the spirit of my Executive Order, the Defending Women’s Sports Act. We need to ensure player safety for all of our female athletes and continue the fight for fairness in women’s sports.”

__ Oct. 3: After the initial forfeits, San Jose State is beaten at Colorado State, a Rams sweep that marked the Spartans’ first loss following a 9-0 start. San Jose State later beat Colorado State at home on Halloween.

__ Oct. 5: Two days later, the Spartans are given another forfeited win by Wyoming, which opted not to play again on Nov. 14.

__ Oct. 23: Utah State forfeited a match against San Jose State.

__ Nov. 15: The Mountain West Conference concluded there was insufficient evidence to determine misconduct between women’s volleyball players from the Colorado State and San Jose State programs ahead of the Oct. 3 match at Colorado State after a coach filed a Title IX complaint alleging the student-athletes were attempting to manipulate the contest.

San Jose State associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose brought her allegations to the conference on Oct. 29, the Mountain West said. Batie-Smoose has been away from the team since.

__ Nov. 25: A judge rejected a request made by nine current conference players to block the San Jose State player from competing in the Mountain West Tournament on grounds that she is transgender. U.S. Magistrate S. Kato Crews in Denver denied an emergency injunction, finding the players and others who challenged the league’s policy of allowing transgender athletes to participate should have filed the complaint earlier.

__ Nov. 26: That ruling was upheld by an appeals court.

__ Nov. 27: The Boise State program announced it wouldn’t play the Spartans in Friday’s semifinal.

“The decision to not continue to play in the 2024 Mountain West Volleyball Championship tournament was not an easy one,” the school said in a statement. “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.”

__ Nov. 28: The Mountain West Conference released its own statement about the tournament, saying: “Decisions to forfeit matches are at the institutions’ discretion and are considered a loss. San Jose State will advance to the MW Women’s Volleyball Championship final.”

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