EXILED FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH?

The San Jose State women's co-rec volleyball team has won a number of games by forfeit as women's teams object to a crosser playing at the net.  The presence of the crosser has not pleased players, and the internal dynamics have led to an assistant coach, Melissa Batie-Smoose, filing a civil rights complaint.  "In a scathing Title IX Complaint obtained by Quillette, a San José State University women’s volleyball coach explains how her school’s aggressively enforced transgender-inclusion policy created a toxic environment for female athletes."

The lawsuit defies parody.  It alleges the crosser conspired with Colorado State players to injure San Jose's setter, Brooke Slusser, who has been the most outspoken critic of having a former guy in the dressing room.

Head coach Todd Kress (who once coached Northern Illinois) responded to his subordinate's lawsuit in proper Stalinist fashion.  He suspended his assistant.

While Slusser said the school fired Batie-Smoose, that's not accurate. They suspended her indefinitely. That being said, it's very unlikely that Batie-Smoose will return to San Jose State volleyball, and she told OutKick that she's currently "evaluating all [her] options."

Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint against the school earlier this week that alleged, among other things, that transgender player Blaire Fleming conspired with a Colorado State player to throw an Oct. 3 match between the two teams.

Part of the reason for Fleming's actions, Batie-Smoose believed, was for Fleming to get revenge on team captain Brooke Slusser, who had openly criticized the school for allowing a biological male on the volleyball team.

Colorado State won that match, although the simpler explanation might have been San Jose's Nayeli Ti'a scratched with an injury sustained in practice.

San Jose recently recorded wins on the court, hosting Air Force and playing at New Mexico.

It's possible that additional litigation, involving such things as retaliation against whistleblowers, will follow.

The postseason tournaments in volleyball are about to begin.  We'll see how San Jose fare should they draw a Texas, a Louisville, a Nebraska, a Wisconsin.