Hawaii native drives latest loss against San Jose State volleyball

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A Punahou student is making national headlines this week for her stance on an ongoing controversy in women’s college volleyball.

Sia Liilii is senior captain of the Nevada women’s volleyball team.

She says her teammates plan to lose their next game against San Jose State because they say the Spartans have a “biological man” on the roster.

The Nevada players’ decision to resign centers on SJSU attacker Blaire Fleming, who a Title IX lawsuit claims is a transgender woman.

Liili says the school initially planned to have everyone play their next game with the Spartans, but the players refused, citing their right to safety and fair competition.

“We told our athletic directors that we didn’t feel comfortable playing that game and they told us we should take a little more time to consider both sides,” Liilii said. “After that, the vast majority of us still voted that we were not comfortable playing against a biological man.”

Fleming leads the team in kills and at 11-3, San Jose State has the best record in the conference.

Four of those wins came by forfeit, and Liilii says players from those schools who backed out personally reached out to thank him for taking a stand.

“It’s more important than winning or losing, it’s about our future generations,” Liilii said. “I am an aunt, I take care of my nieces, all my little brothers who right now play sports and dream of becoming college athletes. “It’s not just for us to play against this person right now, it’s so that they are never in this situation.”

Native Hawaiian Kumu and transgender advocate Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu tells HNN she understands the player’s decision to resign, but sees this as an opportunity for the NCAA to allow for greater inclusion.

“When I hear news coming out of the American continent about inequalities and gender issues in sports, it just makes me think that there really should be a bigger push not only for more integration in sports, but also for transgender-oriented sports.” “Wong-Kalu said. .

She also adds that this is a very nuanced issue with different perspectives even within the transgender community.

“There are some people who identify as transgender and will take on the rigorous challenge of playing this sport with their biological gender; to me, that’s something I would do,” Wong-Kalu said.

The University of Nevada has said it cannot officially cancel the game. And while the players’ decision does not represent the University’s position, those who drop out will not be subject to disciplinary action.

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