The Mountain West Conference found “insufficient evidence to corroborate allegations of misconduct” during the Oct. 3 volleyball game between San Jose State and Colorado State, a conference source told ESPN on Friday.
San Jose State associate head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose filed a Title IX complaint with university, Mountain West Conference and NCAA officials on Oct. 29, alleging that a Spartans player and a of the Rams colluded in an attempt to manipulate the game. Colorado State handed San Jose State its first loss of the season with a 3-0 sweep.
Batie-Smoose alleged that an SJSU player, whom team co-captain Brooke Slusser identified as transgender, left the team hotel on Oct. 2 to go to a Colorado State player's residence and shared the scouting report. of the team. Batie-Smoose alleged that the SJSU player and the Colorado State player “devised a plan” to leave part of the court open for the Colorado State player to target Slusser. Another SJSU player who was also present later reported the meeting to the coaches.
Upon receiving Batie-Smoose's Title IX complaint, Mountain West launched an investigation. According to the source, conversations with the coaches and athletes involved were held with their respective institutions, both coaches reviewed the match video, the conference hired an outside investigator who conducted interviews with players and coaches, outside volleyball experts reviewed game video and match statistics, and the conference consulted with its sports betting compliance partner to examine betting activity.
Because it did not find sufficient corroborating evidence, the conference does not recommend any disciplinary action and closes the investigation, the source said.
SJSU coach Todd Kress refuted the allegations in the complaint and subsequent report in the online publication Quillette as “full of lies.” He also denied that a scouting report had been shared.
“We didn't do our scouting report and no one had access to our scouting report until game day,” he said.
Since filing the complaint, Batie-Smoose has not been with the team. San Jose State has declined to comment further on his status.
SJSU has experienced controversy throughout this volleyball season. Five opponents have canceled or lost games (Southern Utah University and Mountain West teams, Boise State, Nevada, Utah State and Wyoming) and those games are recorded as losses for those teams.
The institutions have refused to give specific reasons for the losses. The Nevada players issued a statement ahead of their game scheduled for Oct. 26, saying they “refuse to participate in any game that promotes injustice against female athletes.” Instead of playing in San Jose, California, nine Nevada players participated in a rally in Reno advocating for the exclusion of transgender athletes from women's sports.
Slusser joined a lawsuit against the NCAA on Sept. 23, claiming that one of his teammates is transgender and poses a safety risk to teammates and opponents.
The volleyball player has not discussed her identity and San Jose State has not commented on her identity due to federal privacy laws. ESPN is not naming the player.
Colorado State and San Jose State meet for the second time on Saturday.
