For the second consecutive game, three Colorado State women’s volleyball players, including Malaya Jones—who is alleged to have conspired with San Jose State’s transgender player Blaire Fleming to harm a teammate—knelt during the national anthem.
The protest, which Jones and her two teammates also performed on Friday, has drawn significant attention and controversy.
Jones faces accusations of collaborating with Fleming to exchange scouting reports on San Jose State and plotting to injure San Jose State player Brooke Slusser during a game.
Colorado State head coach Emily Kohan defended the players, claiming they have knelt during the national anthem since their freshman year.
“They’ve knelt since their freshman year when the Black Lives Matter movement was going on, and, in this program, we raise critical thinkers to make decisions for what’s important to them,” Kohan said. “And, for those three, they’re Black players, and it’s been important to them for five years. And they’ve stood their ground for saying that this is something that they believe in, and we’ve all supported them.”
Slusser has since joined a lawsuit against San Jose State and the NCAA, alleging that she was forced to share living and changing spaces with Fleming—a biological male—without being informed of Fleming’s transgender status.
The lawsuit raises serious concerns about player safety, transparency, and the handling of such situations by collegiate athletic organizations.
Despite the controversy, Colorado State head coach Emily Kohan defended her players, stating that the trio has been kneeling during the anthem since their freshman year.
Kohan’s remarks highlight the ongoing tension between athletes’ rights to protest and the broader implications of their actions on team unity and public perception.
The incident underscores growing debates over the intersection of athletic fairness, transgender participation, and individual rights in collegiate sports, issues that continue to polarize the nation.
