A college volleyball player who was allegedly targeted by a transgender teammate has criticized her school for suspending an assistant coach who spoke out.
Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended indefinitely from her position at San Jose State University over the weekend after filing a Title IX complaint against the school, alleging that transgender athlete Blaire Fleming conspired with Malaya Jones, 21 of Colorado State University, before an Oct. 3 meeting. competition in Fort Collins.
She claimed the pair devised a plan to leave the center of the court open so Jones could attack co-captain Brooke Slusser with powerful spikes, or ‘kills’, after she said it was unfair and unsafe to be forced to sit next to a powerfully built transgender teammate.
Batie-Smoose was notified Saturday that she had been suspended from her position after school officials ordered her to leave campus immediately and not return until further notice. according to pro-female sports website Outkick.
Slusser fired back in a post on X: “My assistant coach spoke the truth to protect my team. Then… they fire her.
San Jose State University women’s volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser has accused her university of suspending assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose
She claimed on X that Batie-Smoose ‘spoke the truth to protect my team’
“They took away the only safe space we had in the program,” she continued. ‘Because she knew it was right to stand up for the eighteen women on the team. Not one man.’
Batie-Smoose alleged that Fleming behaved aggressively toward Slusser during the match, before which Slusser’s roommate reportedly received a threat on social media that read: “distance himself from [B]Rooke at the game tomorrow, it won’t be good for her.’
Batie-Smoose had filed a Title IX complaint last week, alleging school officials showed favoritism toward a transgender player
The assistant coach further claimed that when she later asked head coach Todd Kress if anything would be done about the matter, he said, “It’s out of my control.”
Batie-Smoose even said as much in her Title IX complaint school officials have shown favoritism toward Fleming “at the expense of Fleming’s 18 female teammates,” as reported by Quilette.
She alleged that head coach Todd Kress allowed Fleming to violate the dress code and scheduling rules that other teammates must follow.
Kress also reportedly regularly told players that “excluding trans-identified players like Fleming should be seen as morally tantamount to homophobia and anti-Black racism.”
In some cases, Kress would suggest that Fleming’s opponents are betraying trans rights and the entire LGBTQ community.
According to the veteran coach, Kress once even pushed out a promising student who was vying for Fleming’s position by demanding much stricter standards. That student received a scholarship and had to leave the program and school.
She alleged that transgender athlete Blaire Fleming (pictured) conspired with Malaya Jones, 21, of Colorado State University, before an Oct. 3 competition in Fort Collins
Fleming reportedly only began identifying as transgender with her teammates in April 2024.
However, Batie-Smoose said she suspected Fleming was not biologically female due to her immense physical strength.
She became especially concerned after Fleming fired a murder shot off the head of a University of Delaware opponent.
‘It was clear to me that the [University of Delaware player] was very athletic and skilled, but simply had no chance to protect himself from the spike,” Batie-Smoose said.
Batie-Smoose added that many of Fleming’s own teammates are now turning away during practice games because they fear Fleming’s power. She said this fear response is “virtually unheard of in women’s volleyball.”
Following her suspension, Batie-Smoose said she was instructed not to speak to the media.
“This is just another form of what the state of San Jose is trying to do: silence people who stand up for their First Amendment rights,” she told Outkick.
She added that she wanted to “make sure that I stand strong and that only women are allowed to play in women’s sports.
Slusser said she was concerned about her and other players’ safety, claiming Fleming could cause injuries by playing the volleyball at 80 mph.
Slusser also said in her own lawsuits against the school that she lived with Fleming during the 2023 season and overheard a conversation about her being transgender.
In April, Slusser claims, Fleming admitted her gender identity to her.
She now claims the university did not warn any of its recruits that a transgender athlete was on the team, even though “this was now a known fact to the athletic department and virtually everyone else at SJU.” according to Fox News.
Slusser also claims the school ordered players not to publicly discuss Fleming’s gender identity or it would “end badly for them” and jeopardize their spot on the team, according to court documents. obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.
She said she is concerned about her own safety and that of other players. She claims Fleming could cause injuries by shooting the volleyball at 80mph, and describes the transgender athlete as “physically imposing” standing at “six feet tall and towering over opposing teams.”
Slusser further claimed that she told coaches and school officials earlier this season that she felt uncomfortable continuing to play with a transgender teammate, and when her concerns went unanswered, she signed a class action lawsuit against the NCAA.
It is accused by more than a dozen female athletes, including Slusser, of knowingly violating a law banning sex discrimination by allowing them to compete in women’s sports.
She also described Fleming as “physically imposing” standing “6 feet tall and towering over opponents.”
The case went viral after a video last month showed Fleming sending a ferocious spike out of an opponent’s face.
Amid the controversy over their inclusion, Southern Utah, Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada all opted to forfeit games against San Jose State.
San Jose now has five games remaining in the regular season and is expected to reach the All-Mountain West conference tournament on Nov. 27.
Slusser has said she will not abandon her team during that time.
“When we walk into that gym, it’s all about mutual respect and we’re all here for one purpose: we all want to win a volleyball match,” she said after the team’s loss to Colorado State.
“When we walk into that gym, it doesn’t matter what’s happening in your personal life, what’s happening with a teammate, it doesn’t matter.
“Everyone has their own personal morals, their own personal opinions, but when it comes to us on the field, we just have to go out there and just be one,” she said at the time.