San Jose State volleyball head coach Todd Kress issued a statement to Fox News Digital on Saturday after his team lost to Colorado State in the finals of the Mountain West Conference tournament.

Kress addressed the national controversy surrounding a transgender player on his team and seven lost conference games, including a tournament semifinal against Boise State.

“I will not sugarcoat our reality of the last two months. Our team prepared for every game and was ready to play every game in accordance with established Mountain West and NCAA rules of play. We have not taken away anyone’s opportunity to participate,” Kress wrote.

Boise State, Wyoming, Utah State and Nevada have lost a combined seven games to SJSU this season.

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Kress said each of those losses resulted in the team’s players, coaches and staff receiving “horrific, hateful messages.”

“Unfortunately, others who have played against the same team for years without incident have decided not to play against us this season. To be clear, we have not celebrated a single victory through defeat. Instead, we braced ourselves for the consequences. Each announcement of defeat sparked horrific, hateful messages that individuals sent directly to our student-athletes, our coaching staff and many associated with our program,” Kress wrote.

The coach admitted it was one of the toughest seasons of his life, despite only being in his second season with the team.

“This has been one of the most difficult seasons I have ever experienced and I know that is also the case for many of our players and the staff who have supported us throughout. We continue to focus on the pitch and ensure the overall impression.” “The safety and well-being of my players amidst the outside noise was my priority,” said Kress.

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Kress was named in a lawsuit filed by team co-captain Brooke Slusser and several other Mountain West players against the conference and San Jose State. The lawsuit alleges that as part of his efforts to remove Slusser from the team, Kress communicated with a private attorney and told others that he had filed Title IX complaints against Slusser that were not based on comments Slusser made in in practice, but rather to communications Slusser has made to the media and in public forums about her beliefs.

Slusser has also alleged that the university threatened to revoke her scholarship because she discussed the issues of sharing the team, locker room and bedroom with her transgender teammate Blaire Fleming.

Still, in his statement Saturday, Kress thanked Slusser as well as Fleming and the other seniors on the team.

“Our team gave their best today, just like they have all season. I would like to thank our seniors – Alessia (Buffagni), Chandler (Manusky), Brooke (Bryant), Brooke and Blaire – for their tremendous effort.” “They all helped us on the field all season,” Kress wrote.

Kress also thanked San Jose State University Police Chief Michael Carroll for his work protecting the team from potential threats this season.

A San Jose State spokesperson previously confirmed to Fox News Digital that the program did not formally notify any of the opponents on its schedule about the situation with Fleming and Slusser before this season’s games, following Slusser’s first lawsuit against the NCAA in September was joined by the presence of a transsexual teammate.

However, this spokesman also confirmed that the university coordinated police protection for the players with the schools hosting the team’s away games after security measures had to be increased due to the attention the team was receiving.

When Southern Utah became the first program to announce it would cancel a game against the Spartans in early September, it was the first indication of increased security. That’s when the college called in armed security forces.

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A San Jose State University spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital that the volleyball team was told it would receive some type of additional security following its first loss to a rival program as news of Slusser’s lawsuit spread.

Shortly after the first crime, the university’s in-house police were made aware of the situation and intervened. Thereafter, police protection was assigned to every game, and police departments at other locations were assigned to protect the team while traveling.

The police presence was noticeably heavy at the Spartans’ first meeting against eventual conference champion Colorado State on October 3rd. Several officials were photographed on the field that evening, looking intently at the stands, entrances and at the players.

Slusser previously told Fox News Digital that on Oct. 2, the night before a game, she received a warning from a teammate to “stay away” during the game because something “bad” would happen to her.

San Jose State University responded to questions about whether federal investigators were involved.

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“The university has asked students and employees to forward all related communications to the UPD for appropriate evaluation and action, including in collaboration with appropriate authorities as appropriate,” San Jose State said in an earlier statement.

And Kress was tasked with coaching his team through it all. Kress is not the coach who recruited Fleming to SJSU. That was former head coach Trent Kersten, who left the program after Fleming’s first season at San Jose State in 2022.

A lawsuit that also includes former Spartans assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose accuses Kersten of recruiting Fleming knowing the player was transgender but not telling the other players .

Kress took over the program in 2023 and expressed frustration with Kersten’s decision in an interview with OutKick.

“My frustration with Trent is an unfortunate situation,” Kress said. “(Kersten) obviously knows that Blaire is in the crosshairs of this debate, and yet not once has he reached out to (Fleming) to inquire about (Fleming’s) mental health. I honestly think it’s sad.”

Previously, Kress suggested that tensions in the locker room over Fleming’s presence on the team and Slusser’s complaints “maybe not a bad thing.”

“Sometimes tension isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I’m not saying it is. But you know, when there’s tension or confrontation, I’m someone who believes that because of confrontation.” “Good things usually happen. We put aside our differences and work on it,” Kress told reporters on Oct. 3 after the first game at Colorado State.

“The last thing I would want is for the white elephant to be in the room and there’s no tension, we don’t address it and we never get over it, right? So I think maybe there is tension, but it passes.” . If we are in a meeting room and there is tension, it dies there. We really don’t let the boundaries be crossed, and that’s why we’ve been so successful so far.”

Now the Spartans’ tournament run is over. The players got through unhurt. But the complaints continue.

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