San Jose State’s Opponent Boycotts Game Over Transgender Player. Again.

The women’s volleyball team at the center of a national debate over gender and sports advanced to the conference championship after Boise State refused to play.

The San Jose State University Spartans women’s volleyball team, which is at the center of a national debate over the inclusion of transgender women in women’s sports, advanced to its conference championship on Saturday without having played a single game in the tournament.

After a first-round bye, the team was preparing to play a semifinal match in the Mountain West Conference tournament scheduled for Friday, but the opposing team — Boise State University — refused for the third time to play the Spartans because of their transgender player.

After Boise State beat Utah State University on Friday to qualify for the semifinal in Las Vegas, the players celebrated by cheering and hugging. They talked quietly in a huddle, then cheered again.

Hours later Boise State released a statement that read: “The decision to not continue to play in the 2024 Mountain West Volleyball Championship tournament was not an easy one. Our team overcame forfeitures to earn a spot in the tournament field and fought for the win over Utah State in the first round on Wednesday. They should not have to forgo this opportunity while waiting for a more thoughtful and better system that serves all athletes.”

It was the seventh time this year that a Mountain West team has backed out of a match against San Jose State out of protest over the transgender player, who declined an interview request through a university spokeswoman. Boise State, one of five teams to forfeit games against the Spartans this season, also forfeited two regular season games against them.

Boise State’s decision to forfeit and lose a chance at the final has called even more attention to one of the most complex and polarizing issues of American life: whether a transgender woman can play on a women’s sports team.

The university has not confirmed that the player is transgender, and The Times is not naming her because she has not publicly confirmed her identity. But her involvement with the team prompted a teammate and her assistant coach to file a lawsuit earlier this month, trying to keep her from playing in the tournament — and also on women’s teams at all. They say that the player’s inclusion on the team violates Title IX rights to gender equity in federally funded institutions.

The player’s affiliation with San Jose State was published by a conservative website in April, surprising some of her teammates and opposing teams. And in the days and weeks to follow, the Spartans were struggling to find ways to comprehend the information as politicians addressed it in their campaigns. Transgender women are allowed to compete in N.C.A.A. volleyball, but only if they use drugs that keep their levels of testosterone — a hormone known to increase strength, muscle mass and endurance — below a specific level. San Jose State has avoided any specifics, but has said that all of its volleyball players are eligible to play.

In public forums, former President Donald J. Trump and other conservative candidates vowed to find ways to bar athletes who were not assigned female at birth from women’s sports. Mr. Trump called the situation “so crazy.”

Brooke Slusser, a senior player, and Melissa Batie-Smoose, the assistant coach, along with 10 other female volleyball players, were the ones to sue the Mountain West Conference and its commissioner, the Spartans’ head coach and others involved with the university.

But a federal judge denied their request on Monday to bar the transgender player, clearing her to play, and on Tuesday another judge rejected the plaintiffs’ appeal, too.

Reaching the final without having played a game was exactly what Ms. Slusser had hoped would not happen, she said last week in an interview, because the team would not have earned that berth.

“It wouldn’t be fair to all the other teams, either,” she said.

If San Jose State were to win the championship, the Spartans would play in next month’s N.C.A.A. tournament.

Pashtana Usufzy contributed reporting.

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