San Jose State women’s volleyball players are angry and concerned for their safety after Spartans assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended by the university amid the controversy following reports that redshirt senior Blaire Fleming is transgender, team captain Brooke Slusser said in a interview with OutKick.
Batie-Smoose was suspended Saturday, less than two hours before the team’s game against New Mexico, after filing a Title IX complaint earlier that week alleging that SJSU’s transgender inclusion policy created a toxic environment for female athletes and the university of openly showing favoritism for Fleming, according to a complaint obtained by Quillette.
Slusser – a junior starting setter who was previously roommates with Fleming – said she and her team are concerned about who will protect their voices after Batie-Smoose’s suspension.
San Jose State women’s volleyball associate coach Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended on Nov. 2, 2024. SJSU Athletics
“We are not happy and we don’t feel safe anymore,” Slusser said. “Melissa was the person we felt like, as long as she was there, we had someone who stood up for us. And now there is no one who wants that.”
Todd Kress is the team’s head coach.
Slusser, who previously spoke out against Fleming after teams began forfeiting games against SJSU, explained that tensions are high within the team.
Brooke Slusser, a women’s volleyball player from San Jose State University.
Instagram / @brookeslusser04 Blaire Fleming, a women’s volleyball player from San Jose State University.
Instagram/@blaire.fleming
“I don’t think the school understands how much they basically ruined this program by taking Melissa away from us,” Slusser said. “So who knows what will happen in the future (regarding) what our team will do or how we will respond to this.”
Slusser recalled players receiving a text message asking them to meet before Saturday’s game.
“No one from the coaching staff was at the meeting, it was just the players,” she said. “A guy from the university … sat our team down and said (coach Batie-Smoose) has been put on leave, won’t be coming back and that players weren’t supposed to contact her or talk to her.
“Right now, tensions are very high for my team because we are so angry now that Melissa is gone. Emotions are flying through the roof right now.
“A few girls burst into tears when we found out and everyone was in shock. Melissa was such a backbone to many of us and was that support system that many of us turned to for everything.
(L-R) SJSU’s Brooke Slusser celebrates after scoring a point with libero Randilyn Reeves, Blaire Fleming and libero Alessia Buffagni during an NCAA volleyball match against Colorado State on Oct. 3, 2024, in Fort Collins, Colorado.
AP
San Jose State defeated New Mexico in four sets on Saturday.
In a statement to OutKick, the university confirmed Batie-Smoose’s suspension, but did not provide a reason.
“The head coach of the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team is not with the team at this time and we will not be providing any further information in this regard,” the university said.
Slusser took to college social media after news of Batie-Moose’s suspension.
“My assistant coach told the truth to protect my team. Then…they fire her.” Slusser wrote on X. “They took away the only safe space we had in the program. Because she knew it was right to stand up for the 18 women on the team. Not one man.”
The San Jose State University women’s volleyball team during a match.
San Josee State Volleyball
Fleming, reportedly a biological male, is a 6-foot-4 outside right hitter and is considered a top player on the SJSU women’s volleyball team.
According to Quillette, Batie-Smoose filed a 33-page Title IX complaint on October 29 with officials from the University of California, the Mountain West Conference and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA), to investigate (1) the overt favoritism that she believes SJSU has shown to Fleming, at the expense of Fleming’s 18 female teammates; and the disturbing measures SJSU officials allegedly took to suppress the expressions of concern of these affected women.”
Batie-Smoose alleged that Fleming conspired with an opponent to help San Jose State lose a game and try to injure Slusser.
In the complaint, Batie Smoose explained that Fleming’s physical strength stood out – specifically “spiking the (ball) and blocking in the front row, due to Fleming’s jumping ability and punching power, which exceeds that of any player in the (Mountain West) far exceeded. Conference.”
The San Jose State Spartans play the Air Force Falcons during the second set of an NCAA college volleyball match on Thursday, October 31, 2024 in San Jose, California. AP
Batie-Smoose’s complaint came after Slusser joined a number of other female athletes a lawsuit against the NCAA for violation of Title IX, inclusion of trans athletes in college sports.
The class action lawsuit was filed in March and funded by the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS).
Slusser said in the complaint that she lived with Fleming and three other teammates — and that she initially did not know Fleming was transgender.
The San Jose State Spartans play the Air Force Falcons during the first set of an NCAA college volleyball match on Thursday, October 31, 2024 in San Jose, California. AP
Slusser also claimed that the SJSU athletic department would assign her a room with Fleming during road trips, and she later learned that Fleming specifically asked her to be a roommate.
OutKick before reported that San Jose State University concealed Fleming’s birth gender for two years.
The situation made headlines at the time Southern Utah lost the game against San Jose State in the Santa Clara Tournament in September.
That led to a series of forfeits from four other schools – Boise StateWyoming, Utah State and Nevada – in the weeks that followed.
Fleming played the previous two seasons at San Jose State – after a year at Coastal Carolina in 2020. Fleming also played on the girls varsity volleyball team at John Champe High School in Virginia.
In April, Reduxx, a website described as “feminist news and opinion” published a story claiming that Fleming was a biological male with the assigned birth name Brayden.