A San Diego State women's volleyball player was punched in the face during Thursday night's match against San Jose State University. Blaira Fleminga, A transgender athlete has been at the center of a recent controversy that has resulted in several schools opting out of games against teams.
The incident occurred during the second set Aztec 22-12 ahead.
Blair Fleming, No. 3, a transgender athlete, played three seasons at SJSU after previously playing at Coastal Carolina. (San Jose State University)
In the video shared on social media, Fleming hit the ball, which then hit SDSU junior Keira Heron in the face.
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Heron was knocked down by the impact, and the crowd gasped loudly. He quickly got back on his feet and resumed play.
“Keira Heron has a little bit of pink in her hair and her face looks like it matches it, so she obviously accepted the contact,” the show's announcer said in the recording.
SJSU would lose the match in straight sets and their record dropped to 9-2.
The incident occurred in the context of controversy over the school's curriculum. Four schools withdrew from games against San Jose State, including: stan Boise, Southern Utah, Wyoming and Utah State this season.
Blair Fleming, No. 3, a redshirt senior at San Jose State University, plays outside and hits right wing for the women's volleyball team. (San Jose State University)
The San Jose State volleyball team has stated that no future matches with cross-country players will be canceled
The forfeiture follows last month's forfeiture of Fleming's teammate Brooke Slusser, who was ex NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines Several other female athletes are suing the NCAA over its policy on transgender athletes, which they say threatens the fairness and integrity of women's competitive sports and puts women at risk.
The complaint says Slusser claimed he didn't know Fleming was transgender even though he shared a room on the team trip. Slusser also expressed concern about the safety of opponents playing against Fleming.
“Brooke estimated that Fleming reached speeds of over 80 miles per hour, which was faster than he had ever seen a woman hit a volleyball,” according to Slusser's complaint via the Cowboy State Daily. “The girls did everything they could to avoid Fleming's spikes, but they still weren't able to defend themselves well.”
The volleyball net is set up during the Division III Women's Volleyball Championships at the US Cellular Center on November 23, 2019 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Photo by Zack Dempsey/NCAA via Getty Images)
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Slusser's attorney, Bill Bock, told OutKick, “One of the things that is important in this case is the issue of physical safety in volleyball.” “And this is what they face every day in practice. So this is just a crazy, misguided policy that steals women's sporting dreams and gives them to men, while at the same time endangering women's health and safety.”
A San Jose State University spokesman told Fox News Digital on Thursday that none of its upcoming opponents have notified the team of plans to forgo upcoming games.
“We have no notifications of match cancellations at this time. We have home games scheduled tonight against San Diego State and Saturday against UNLV,” the spokesman said.
The team has 13 games left in the regular season, including a rematch with San Diego State. The schedule also includes second games against three of the four teams that have already lost their first game against the Spartans.
Fox News' Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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