Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday that the forfeits volleyball teams are willing to accept to avoid playing San Jose State are “not what we celebrate in the college athletics” and that she is heartbroken by what happened this season around the Spartans and their opponents. .

Four teams canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly explaining why they forfeited.

A group of Nevada players released a statement saying they will not speak when the Wolf Pack is scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” although their school reiterated Thursday that the game is still scheduled and that state law prohibits confiscation “for reasons related to identity or to gender expression.

All of these schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also a member of the MWC, played its home game Thursday night, which the Spartans won 3-1, the team’s first victory since September 24.

“It breaks my heart because these are human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue who are receiving a lot of negative attention nationally,” Nevarez said in an interview with the Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right.”

Republican governors of IdahoNevada, Utah And Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing the need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, this year’s Republican presidential candidate, referenced an unidentified volleyball game this week when asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I’ve never seen a bullet hit that hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump responded before being asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president forbids it. Don’t let this happen.

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State released a statement that “it was falsely reported that a San Diego State University student-athlete was struck in the face with a football.” volleyball in a match against San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the student-athlete’s shoulder, and the athlete was not injured and did not miss any plays.”

San Jose State had no direct comment on the politicians’ references to “fairness,” and Nevarez did not go into detail.

“I’m learning a lot about it,” Nevarez said. “I don’t yet know much about the language, or the science, or the national understanding of how this issue is playing out. Outside influences so far are one side or the other. ‘other. We have an election year, it’s political, so, yes, it seems like a no-win situation given all the external pressure.

The cancellations could mean some teams won’t qualify for the Nov. 27-30 conference tournament in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are expected to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility criteria, so if a team doesn’t play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they suffer a loss,” Nevarez said.

That wasn’t the case at New Mexico, where coach Jon Newman-Gonchar said his team discussed whether to play SJSU.

“We’re a volleyball team that wants to compete and get better,” he said after Thursday night’s loss in Albuquerque, New Mexico. “There hasn’t really been a conversation about the personnel on the other side of the team. We just asked you: are you comfortable playing, are there any concerns? Every athlete said they were excited to play and improve.

San Jose State coach Todd Kress said playing was his team’s “safe haven” and noted that security and police escorts were now involved when his team took the field. He has not publicly discussed specific players since the packages began.

“I know it definitely took a toll on a lot of them. They’re getting hate mail, which is completely ridiculous to me,” he said in Albuquerque. “Some of these people are the underbelly of society and they’re attacking an 18, 19, 20-year-old woman. And even more so if you are a parent and you are targeting 18, 19 or 20 year olds. Would you want your student-athlete, your daughter, to face the same kind of hatred that you spew?

The Spartans next play Saturday at Air Force, a week before the scheduled Oct. 26 game in Reno — if that goes ahead.

Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “the majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit San Jose State. The school said only the university could take this action, but any player who decided not to play would not be disciplined.

“When we had our first loss, there was a lot of heartbreak. And now we didn’t expect it, but we know of some programs that might forfeit,” Kress said. “It always hurts our student-athletes when we don’t play a game, but I think they J I’ve come to accept it a little more and I think that’s a very unfortunate thing to say.

___

AP freelance writer Glen Rosales contributed from Albuquerque, New Mexico.