Batie-Smoose was suspended indefinitely after she filed a Title IX complaint against San Jose State University, alleging that Blaire Fleming, the team’s transgender player, conspired with an opponent to help the team lose a match and injure teammate Brooke Slusser.

A suspended college coach claims that she was threatened to stay silent over a growing controversy in the transgender sports world. Melissa Batie-Smoose, an assistant women's volleyball coach at San Jose State,

The plaintiffs sued the Mountain West and its commissioner over the participation of a player who they say is transgender.

The decision amid a national transgender controversy involving Blaire Fleming, a redshirt senior who joined the Spartans in 2022.

Slusser and the others sued San Jose State officials, the conference and other defendants in Colorado federal court Nov. 13. For courts, temporary injunctions like those sought in this case are intended to “preserve the status quo” until a trial can provide a legal resolution, Crews said.

A bid by the co-captain of San Jose State University’s women’s volleyball team to get a purportedly transgender teammate banned from the Mountain West Conference Championship has failed. Co-captain Brooke Slusser and her co-plaintiffs waited too long to seek an emergency court order barring the player from the tournament,

U.S. District Judge S. Kato Crews said temporary injunctive relief is intended to preserve the status quo pending the outcome of a trial, but that an order to remove San Jose State University player Blaire Fleming would disrupt it.

The suit was filed on behalf of players who claimed it was unfair and physically unsafe for them to play against a purportedly transgender athlete.

Judge rejects request to block San Jose State women’s volleyball team member from playing on grounds she’s transgender