.

A California girls’ high school volleyball team is facing more forfeited games due to opposing teams canceling this week, further fueling an already high-stakes controversy over a transgender athlete on the roster.

Maribel Munoz, a mother of a player on Jurupa Valley High School’s girls’ volleyball team, confirmed the forfeits after a coach, Liana Manu, alerted parents to two more matches on their schedule being scratched. Rim of the World High School forfeited an August 25 game, and Orange Vista High School pulled out of an August 29 game.

Jurupa Valley Unified School District (JUSD) issued a statement on the new forfeits, noting it was not responsible. “We understand and acknowledge the disappointment of our Jurupa Valley High School athletes who are ready and prepared to play. Decisions to cancel matches were made by teams in other districts,” the district said in the statement.

It noted it has a responsibility to follow California law, which prohibits schools from discriminating based on gender identity. “California Education Code 221.5 (f) requires all schools to allow students to participate on athletic teams that correspond with their gender identity,” the district said in the statement. “This guidance is supported by the California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.”

“We are proud of our JVHS Jaguars and their willingness to play any team and represent their school and our district with pride,” the district added, noting efforts were ongoing to reschedule games so athletes have opportunities to compete.

This comes after Riverside Poly High School forfeited a game on August 15 against Jurupa Valley. Parents of the athletes and a local school board member told Fox News Digital the decision was made over the team’s transgender player, senior AB Hernandez.

Mother of Player at the Center of Controversy Speaks Out

Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda Hernandez, responded to the controversy in a statement to Fox News Digital. “I understand the discomfort some may feel, because I was once there, too. The difference is, I chose to learn, to grow, and to open my heart,” she said.

“The student you are all protesting is the size of an average 13-year-old girl, small and slight. This is not what sets my daughter apart. This is not what makes her better at volleyball than your daughter. My daughter is not in this sport because of her size or strength,” she added. “This is a child, and I can assure you that she sees your daughters as peers, as teammates, as friends, not through a lens of anything inappropriate. We have been very lucky. My daughter had no idea why the games were canceled.”

Hernandez has previously been in the national spotlight after the spring track and field season, in which she won two California state titles in the long jump and triple jump events. Female athletes and their families had protested her winning those events, many of them donning “Save Girls’ Sports” shirts. At the time, then-President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social ahead of the California state finals, saying the state should not allow a trans athlete to compete, without mentioning Hernandez by name.

In July, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit over the California Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) policies allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports, despite Trump having issued an executive order in February to bar such participation.

Hernandez is in her senior year of high school and her final season of volleyball. Instead of playing, she is at the center of a high-profile controversy of forfeits and a community in conflict.

Jurupa Valley parent Munoz, whose daughter has played alongside Hernandez for the past three years, expressed frustration over how the situation has played out. “It makes me feel sad, it makes me feel angry, frustrated, just so many emotions,” Munoz said.

The issue has spilled into local school board meetings, with a recent Riverside Unified School District board meeting seeing parents of players on opposite sides. Some supported the Riverside Poly athletes for not playing, while others used the meeting to make public comments about transgender students having a right to compete.

At the meeting, Nereyda Hernandez chastised Riverside board member Amanda Vickers for speaking to Fox News Digital previously about the forfeit. “You actually entertained and welcomed harassment to my child. You made a post, and you continue to accept comments and replies attacking my child. You actually asked people to comment, you commented,” she said, turning toward Vickers. “You are a board member. You have an oath to protect, to support all children, not just the ones that fit your ideas, your beliefs.”

She accused others in the anti-transgender camp of weaponizing parental fears of their own children to go after her daughter. “The goal of certain powerful and well-funded groups is to organize this fear. To weaponize it,” she added. “Organizing your fears to turn neighbor against neighbor, parent against parent, under the guise of Christianity. This has nothing to do with fairness in sports and everything to do with erasing transgender children.”

Parents like Maria Carrillo have taken the opposite position, defending the Riverside Poly girls and attacking parents who support them as misguided. “Poly girls, we stand with you. Keep fighting, because these parents who support their confused child are the problem,” Carrillo said.