“We do not anticipate facilitating any interviews with players or coaches during the Mountain West Tournament,” a school spokesperson said in an email.
Following a judge’s ruling on Monday, trans-identified male volleyball player Blaire Fleming will be heading to the Mountain West Conference’s volleyball tournament with San Jose State University this week. However, questions from the press for Fleming and other team officials will go unanswered.
According to OutKick, the Mountain West Conference said that it is leaving the decision to have media availability up to individual schools. The school told the outlet that they do not anticipate having media availability with players and coaches, including Fleming, athletics director Jeff Konya, head coach Todd Kress, captain Brooke Slusser and player Chandler Manusky. Slusser has signed onto a lawsuit against the conference, while Manusky is quoted within the lawsuit on alleged plans by Fleming to have a teammate injured and a game thrown.
"We do not anticipate facilitating any interviews with players or coaches during the Mountain West Tournament," a school spokesperson said in an email. The outlet noted that Fleming has not been made available for media at any point this season, while the school itself has discouraged athletes and coaches from speaking with media.
OutKick asked whether the Conference "has always left volleyball tournament media up to the institutions or if this is a new policy this year? Did the conference require media availability during last year’s tournament, for example," but the spokesperson did not respond to the questions.
The tournament begins at 1 pm local time on Wednesday in Las Vegas with the match between Fresno State and San Diego State. The winner of that game faces off against Colorado State on Friday. At 4 pm Wednesday, Utah State and Boise State will play, and the winner will go on to compete against San Jose State. Both Boise State and Utah State have forfeited games to San Jose State during the regular season. Colorado played San Jose State twice and split the games.
A Monday ruling by Biden-appointed Judge S. Kato Crews has allowed Fleming to remain in the tournament. A lawsuit filed by athletes across the conference, as well as a former coach, sought an emergency injuction to block Fleming from being able to compete as the case against the NCAA plays out. The suit also asks that lossess given to teams that forfeited in protest against the transgender athlete be removed, thus taking wins away from San Jose State and removing their guaranteed spot in the playoffs.
Crews wrote in his ruling that the plaintiffs "have failed to meet their burden to show irreparable harm, a likelihood of success on the merits, or that the balance of harms or equities is in their favor."
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