Perhaps this is a
https://goEMAW.com/forum/index.php?topic=36757.975 cross post.
Quillette reports of alleged scheme by Blaire Fleming and co-conspirator Malaya Jones of Colorado State to intentionally put non-allied teammates in the crosshairs.
https://quillette.com/2024/11/01/college-volleyballs-spartan-meltdown/Perhaps the most unsettling set of alleged events described in Batie-Smoose’s Title IX Complaint unfolded in Fort Collins, Colorado, in advance of the Spartans’ 3 October 2024 match against the Colorado State University (CSU) Rams.
In an obvious dig at Slusser—who, at the time, had only just gone public with her concerns about Fleming—the CSU facilities announcer declared the event to be an “Inclusive Excellence Volleyball Game.” The Spartans were put further on edge later that day, when Slusser’s roommate received the above-referenced social-media threat, advising her to “distance yourself from Brooke tomorrow at the game, it will not be good for her.”
Batie-Smoose learned of the message after checking in to the team’s local hotel, and began making inquiries to ensure that team members were safe.
It was at that moment, Batie-Smoose reports, that the team learned Fleming had left the hotel. It was subsequently learned that Fleming had been accompanied by another player, whom I will refer to as “Kim,” as she prefers to remain publicly anonymous. Their destination was the residence of CSU’s right-side hitter, Malaya Jones, against whom Fleming would directly line up in the next day’s match.
During that match, Batie-Smoose claims in her Title IX Complaint, Fleming’s play style was bizarre. Fleming defied her coaches’ instructions by allowing Jones an unhindered diagonal hitting lane that exposed Slusser to kills. Batie-Smoose also reports that she repeatedly saw Fleming laughing together with Jones after the latter targeted Slusser in this manner. Fleming’s behaviour was reportedly so strange that even Kress expressed concern, and took Fleming aside for a one-on-one talk.
But Fleming’s behaviour didn’t change. And SJSU lost the match in straight sets—the Spartans’ first defeat of the season.
“At one point,” says Batie-Smoose, “Blaire sent an over pass, perfectly setting up Malaya to kill the ball again in the direction of Brooke Slusser, after [which] Jones blew a kiss toward Fleming and mouthed ‘thank you.’”
In an interview with Quillette, Slusser confirmed Batie-Smoose’s descriptions of the match in all respects.
https://x.com/bourne_beth2345/status/1852925931264086189?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1852925931264086189%7Ctwgr%5E5aca179295fd2fb637bcd4fa8d826fae72a7ae55%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fquillette.com%2F2024%2F11%2F01%2Fcollege-volleyballs-spartan-meltdown%2FIt was only the next day, when a guilt-stricken Kim reportedly stepped into Kress’s office to tearfully tell Kress and Batie-Smoose what she’d seen and heard on the evening of 2 October, that Batie-Smoose received apparent confirmation of her hunch that Fleming had allegedly thrown the match.
By Kim’s reported telling—as Batie-Smoose summarised it in her sworn declaration to university officials—Fleming gave Jones the SJSU scouting report, and the two engineered a plan to leave the centre of the court open so that Jones would be able to target Slusser with powerful spikes in an unhindered fashion. (“Kim,” Jones, and Fleming were all asked for comment. All declined.)
This is all hearsay, of course. But Kim’s alleged claims certainly align with the strange events that Batie-Smoose and Slusser would witness during the next day’s match. Moreover, Kim’s decision to come forward ran entirely against her own interests—lending her claims more credence—as it required her to not only betray Fleming’s confidence, but also to admit to the Spartans’ coaching staff that she’d breached team policy by leaving the hotel on the night of 2 October (a fact her coaches hadn’t previously known).
And so, at the very least, it would seem that Kim’s allegations would have warranted a university investigation. Yet it’s not clear whether one has been initiated.
According to Batie-Smoose, Kress began downplaying Kim’s story as soon as she’d left his office. And when Batie-Smoose followed up the next week, by asking what steps Kress had taken, he replied wearily that “it’s out of my hands”; and that he’d reported the information to Alexander, who, in turn, he said, had reported the information to the university’s Title IX office. (Quillette sent a detailed list of questions concerning these events to Kress, Alexander, and SJSU’s central communications office. None of the recipients chose to respond.)
That was a month ago. During that period, no one from the university is known to have talked to anyone on the team, including Batie-Smoose and Slusser, about any of these events—much less initiated a formal investigation.
Whatever did happen on 2 and 3 October in Fort Collins, it had become clear to everyone that the SJSU women’s volleyball team was now a zero-trust environment. The mood is so dire, Slusser and Batie-Smoose report, that they see no way to fix the program under its current administrative and coaching regime. Both tell me they’re focused mainly on preventing the next cohort of female SJSU athletes from having to fight this same battle.
“I think the [non-Senior] players returning next year just want to grit their teeth and get through this—because by then, Blaire will be gone and maybe they can have a normal season,” Slusser told me. “[For now], they’re just handling it as best they can. Which means just going numb to the situation while still trying to show up every day and give their best.”
“But even when it comes to the future, it’s hard to be optimistic,” she adds. “If the university is willing to put their female athletes though this ordeal once, what stops them from doing it again?”
