Transgender San Jose State volleyball player whos provoked forfeits spikes ball in opponents face

A San Diego State women’s volleyball player was hit in the face during a match against San Jose State University on Thursday night in a play involving redshirt senior Blaire Fleming, a transgender athlete at the center of a recent controversy that has seen several schools forfeit matches against the team. The incident took place during the second set with the Aztecs leading 22-12.In a video shared on social media, Fleming spiked the ball, which then hit SDSU junior Keira Herron in the face.Herron was knocked down after the hit, and the crowd audibly gasped.She quickly got back up to her feet to resume play. “Keira Herron has some pink in her hair and her face is starting to look like she’s matching that as obviously she took the contact,” the broadcast announcer said in the video.SJSU would go on to lose the match in straight sets as their record dropped to 9-2.The incident comes amid controversy surrounding the school’s program.

Four schools have forfeited matches against San Jose State, including Boise State, Southern Utah, Wyoming and Utah State, this season.The forfeitures follow Brooke Slusser, Fleming’s teammate, who just last month joined former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines and several other female athletes in suing the NCAA over its policies regarding transgender athletes that they claim compromise the fairness and integrity of women’s competitive sports while also putting women at risk.According to the complaint, Slusser claimed she was not aware that Fleming was transgender despite sharing rooms together on team trips.Slusser also expressed safety concerns for opponents playing against Fleming. “Brooke estimates that Fleming’s spikes were traveling upward of 80 mph, which was faster than she had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball,” Slusser’s complaint said, via the Cowboy State Daily.

“The girls were doing everything they could to dodge Fleming’s spikes but still could not fully protect themselves.”“One thing that’...