San Jose State trans volleyball player gets 250th kill of season as team faces safety and competition concerns

The San Jose State women's volleyball team lost 3-1 to San Diego State on Saturday as a national controversy continued over a trans athlete on the team.

Redshirt senior Blaire Fleming led the game with 15 kills, increasing the single-season total to 252. It is the second season with more than 250 kills in Fleming's career. Fleming previously recorded an incredible 311 kills in his debut season at San Jose State in 2022 after transferring from Coastal Carolina.

Fleming entered Saturday's game with the third-best kills-per-serve percentage in the entire Mountain West Conference at 3.76, but was still well behind conference leader Malaya Jones of Colorado State.

Fleming achieved these numbers despite San Jose State University losing a total of seven games due to the ongoing controversy. And yet, fueled by Fleming's performance, the entire team ranks third in the conference in kills per serve average and first in strike percentage in the entire Mountain West.

But it's Fleming's teammate Brooke Slusser who leads the team in scoring. Slusser leads the team and currently ranks fourth in the entire conference with a .377 batting average.

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Slusser is also currently pursuing a lawsuit against the NCAA over Fleming's presence on the team. Slusser has alleged that the university kept Fleming's biological sex a secret from her and her teammates for the past two years since she arrived at San Jose State University. Slusser also claims that Fleming's spikes moved at speeds of 80 miles per hour during training.

“Brooke estimated that Fleming's spines were moving at speeds in excess of 80 miles per hour, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball,” Slusser's complaint read. “The girls did everything they could to avoid Fleming's spikes, but still couldn't fully protect themselves.”

Fleming previously set a single-game record at John Champe High School with 30 kills in a match and a season record of 266 kills for the school's girls volleyball team.

Footage of the athlete Hudl page of the school record match with 30 kills in September 2019 shows how hard and fast Fleming's spikes came down against girls opponents at the high school level.

President Trump even went out of his way to comment on footage of one of Fleming's plays, in which the player shot a ball at San Diego State player Keira Herron in a game earlier this season.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. “I’ve never seen a ball hit so hard,” Trump said during a Fox News town hall event. “But other people, even in volleyball, were persistent – I mean, They were really seriously injured. Women play men.”

In another game against New Mexico on October 18, one of Fleming's spikes knocked an opposing player to the ground.

The National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) requires transgender women to submit documentation including testosterone levels before a decision is made about their eligibility. San Jose State said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the program is fully compliant with NCAA rules.

Still, Fleming's participation has raised questions about legality at the state level and whether female athletes should share the same space and locker rooms.

Five programs have already lost their games against San Jose State this season, with Southern Utah, Boise State, Utah State, Wyoming and Nevada all opting out of playing against the Spartans. Boise State and Wyoming each lost two games and suffered multiple defeats to avoid competition against Fleming.

Questions have arisen about the potential conflict that could erupt when San Jose State enters the Mountain West tournament in late November. It's possible that the Spartans will face a team that already lost to them in the regular season in this tournament.

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Slusser told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that she and her teammates are unsure of what a potential postseason run might look like as they navigate a demoralized locker room.

“We're mainly wondering, are teams even going to play us if we go there? Because of just everything that happened this season,” Slusser said. “It seems like every few days it seems like it's going to be a nice day and everything is normal, and then something else happens. So I really think everyone just takes things day by day and takes the hits as they come.”

Slusser and her teammates are reeling from the recent suspension of assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, who was placed on leave after it was revealed she had filed a Title IX complaint against the school. Batie-Smoose's complaint alleged that the university favored Fleming over Slusser throughout the controversy.

“I feel like not just me, but a lot of people are just fed up with the whole situation. So I think it's caused tension in the locker room and on the court just because one person is causing all these problems,” Slusser said.

Batie-Smoose's dismissal was a particularly troubling development for the players, with Slusser claiming she and her teammates now feel unsafe.

“After we found out she was released, a lot of the team just broke down and kind of freaked out, and even one of my teammates was like, 'I don't feel safe anymore' because there's no one around.” “Now we have this Feeling like we can go and talk to him about our concerns or our actual feelings and actually speak freely in front of them,” Slusser said.

Slusser said she doesn't feel safe talking to anyone else in the program, even head coach Todd Kress.

“You can't really express how you feel without them just trying to cover it up or pretend everything is okay. With Melissa, you could express how you felt and she could comfort you, validate your feelings and at least make it happen.” “You feel heard compared to the other coaches,” Slusser said.

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Slusser says she hasn't spoken to Fleming at all since she became involved in the lawsuit. As Slusser reflects on interactions with Fleming before knowing the player's natural birth gender, she admits that she regrets “revealing” herself to the trans player in a way that she would not have had she would have known that Fleming was a natural man.

But when the two players took the court on Saturday, they played like normal teammates, as they have done all season. They walked into the group together and patted each other on the back between games.

On several occasions in recent games, Slusser has even set up Fleming for one of Fleming's signature spikes.

With their previously scheduled games against Wyoming and Boise State now canceled, San Jose State only has two games remaining. With a record of 13-4, Slusser and Fleming will play at home against Colorado State and Fresno State in their final two games of the regular season.

Then their fate in the Mountain West tournament will be decided.

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