The San Jose State women's volleyball team has found itself in the middle of controversy, as many of their opposing teams have forfeited upcoming matches against the college. 

The SJS Spartans started their season undefeated with nine straight wins. However, four of their games have been canceled because of a controversy involving a transgender athlete on the team.

Blaire Fleming, a senior at SJS and fifth in the nation for kills per set, is the athlete at the center of the controversy.

Born a biological male, Fleming originally played for Coastal Carolina but transferred out after a year because of a law that bans transgender athletes from playing in South Carolina. 

It was not made publicly known that Fleming was transgender until April of 2024. 

SJS is part of the Mountain West Conference. On September 15th, Southern Utah decided to forfeit their match against SJS. Shortly after, on September 28th, Boise State followed suit. This was a conference game for San Jose, and they were automatically given the win.

On October 1st, Wyoming announced they would be forfeiting their match against the Spartans. The following day, Utah State University announced that they would do the same. 

Every time a team forfeits against SJS, SJS are awarded the win. This means they could potentially end up going far in the NCAA tournament based on their current record. Another point of controversy.

Further complicating the issue, Fleming's own Spartan co-captain Brooke Slusser joined the lawsuit against the NCAA's gender inclusion policy and stated that Fleming shouldn’t be on the team.  

Last April, a federal court ruled that transgender athletes are protected by Title IX.