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A California high school girls’ volleyball playoff game on Oct. 22 came under national attention due to the presence of a transgender athlete. Two players from the opposing team who refused to take the field that night have now come forward to talk about their decision.
Jurupa Valley High School, which included trans athlete AB Hernandez on its girls team, lost to Valencia High School in straight sets in front of a crowd of protesters wearing “Save Girls Sports” gear. It marked the end of Jurupa’s controversial season, which had been marred by at least 10 losses, and Hernandez’s high school volleyball career.
The parents of two Valencia players who decided not to play that night provided a joint statement, written by the two girls, to Pak Gazette Digital on condition of anonymity.
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Fans wearing “Save Girls Sports” t-shirts pose during a CIF Southern Section Division 5 girls volleyball playoff game against Valencia, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Placentia, California. (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
“On October 18, our team was informed that we would be playing Jurupa Valley High School in Round 1 of the CIF. While scouting the team, we quickly realized that they had a transgender player that we would be competing against on October 22. Ten other teams had previously lost to Jurupa, which alarmed our team and led us to consider whether or not we should play,” the statement began.
“Due to our beliefs and values, we decided not to participate and not attend our CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) first round game. We believe that allowing men to participate in women’s sports is unfair, creates safety concerns, and goes against our faith. We value fair competition and integrity in volleyball, and our hope is to continue playing the sport we love without having to be in a position where we know the situation is wrong.”
The two girls continued to cite their Christian faith as a reason for not playing and insisted that their actions were not directly directed at Hernandez.
“As Christians, our decision not to participate in this game was not difficult to make, but it was uncomfortable to be the only ones to do so. We chose not only not to participate in the game, but also not to attend the game, as a way to show our stance and our disagreement. Our goal was not to single out AB Hernandez, but rather to express our belief that biological males should not compete in women’s sports,” the statement continued.
“Our decision was not made out of hatred or discrimination towards anyone, but rather out of our belief in justice and faith. We hope that the integrity of women’s sports is honored and preserved.”
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The Oct. 22 match wasn’t even Hernandez’s first high school volleyball playoff match. Hernandez had competed for Jurupa Valley each of the last three years and also made the postseason in 2024.
But additional national attention and controversy fell on the team this year after Hernandez found himself at the center of a political conflict between President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom at the end of the track season in the spring.
Hernandez reached the women’s state finals in the long jump, triple jump and high jump, prompting Trump to send out a Truth Social post in the days leading up to the event warning Newsom and the state against allowing a trans athlete to compete in the women’s events. Trump signed an executive order to ban schools from allowing biological males to play women’s sports in February, but the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) has persistently challenged it.
Instead, the CIF changed its rules to grant any female athlete competing in the same events as Hernandez a spot in the competition or a spot higher on the medal podium if she finished behind a biological male athlete.
Hernández took first place in the high jump and triple jump, and second place in the long jump.
The rule change resulted in Hernandez sharing podium spots with female athletes who finished behind the trans athlete in the state finals.
Then, shortly after this year’s volleyball season began, two of Jurupa Valley’s senior players, McPherson and Hadeel Hazameh, walked away of the team in protest for the trans athlete.
McPherson and Hazameh too filed a lawsuit against the Jurupa Unified School District citing his experience playing and sharing a locker room with Hernandez the previous three seasons. McPherson’s older sister and former JVHS girls volleyball player, Madison McPherson, is the third plaintiff in that lawsuit.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against CIF and the California Department of Education in July for refusing to change their transgender policies to comply with Trump’s executive order “Keep Men Out of Women’s Sports,” weeks after Hernandez’s track and field championships.
And now that the fall sports season is coming to a close, Hernandez is still eligible to compete in one more season of women’s track and field in the spring.
