Former President Donald Trump weighed in on the polarizing debate about transgender athletes on Wednesday, an issue that has engulfed San Jose State’s volleyball team, saying if he’s elected he’ll use an executive order to outlaw transgender competitors at all levels.

“You just ban it,” Trump said during a town hall that aired Wednesday on “The Faulkner Focus” on Fox News Channel. “The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen. Not a big deal.”

Trump took a variety of questions from an all-women’s audience during the hour-long “Women’s Issues” special that was recorded on Tuesday in Georgia. The topic of transgender athletes came up when one of the audience members said she was concerned for her granddaughters’ safety in locker rooms and with sports teams.

While Trump did not specifically name San Jose State during the town hall, he appeared to point to a play in the Spartans’ home match against San Diego State on Oct. 10.

With the Spartans trailing 22-12 in the second set of a three-set sweep, a SJSU player spiked a ball that, in a somewhat common occurrence in the sport, caromed off the upper body of an Aztec player and sent her to the floor. The player not only kept the play alive with the bump, but got up immediately and made another bump before SJSU ultimately earned the point.

Video of the play surface with headlines suggesting the SDSU player was hit in the face. Trump appeared to be referencing that play during the town hall.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump said. “Other people, even in volleyball, they’ve been really hurt badly. Women playing men… but we stop it. We absolutely stop it.”

San Diego State officials responded Wednesday by saying their player was not hit in the face or injured on the play.

San Jose State player Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit earlier this month and said she has a transgender teammate who, she contended, has physical advantages over other women athletes. This news organization is not identifying the player named in the lawsuit.

Four schools so far have refused to play the San Jose State women’s volleyball team for unspecified reasons.

— Laurence Miedema

College basketball

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Bennett went 364-136 at Virginia, a tenure that included two ACC Tournament titles and six regular-season conference championships. He was voted national coach of the year three times.

NHL

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