Jared Te’o, the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for SEU’s volleyball team, sounded the alarm on the situation through Twitter earlier this week.

While Te’o initially acknowledged the SEU volleyball squad’s stellar performance on Wednesday, he went on to share that one player named Esther Grussing was singled out by a referee for wearing a “headwrap” during the match.

He shared that the referee asked Grussing to “fold [the headwrap] to make it look like a headband” in order to be eligible to play.

Despite the student-athlete’s efforts, the referee wasn’t pleased and allegedly “told her she could not continue because she didn’t fold her head wrap small enough.”

Check out the tweets down below.

the lockerroom before the match started and adjusted it(to how she’s had it ALL season) and came back out, the ref saw, and she continued warming up. Cut to first serve where this player is set to serve, and match STARTING…and the refs told her she could not continue because she

— Jared Te’o (@JaredTTeo) October 27, 2022

play. Seeing our athlete plead with me as I took her to the lockerroom about how it’s covering her hair for a reason and there has been no issue before…and seeing the way it impacted her made me angry and sad at the same time. I aggressively yelled(as an assistant) at the ref,

— Jared Te’o (@JaredTTeo) October 27, 2022

out. ‘Headwrap’ rules in women’s sports, disproportionately impact black and brown athletes. It’s cultural, it doesn’t impact the play and if it was a MUST, handle it better. I will DIE on this hill. I love you Esther and I love your fight queen. 🖤🫶🏾

— Jared Te’o (@JaredTTeo) October 27, 2022

We have to point out that, despite her ordeal, Grussing helped SEU dominate the match, and Te’o appears to be set on advocating for her and other athletes‘ right to don headwraps during games.

Te’o hasn’t provided any further updates on social media, and the university itself has remined mum.

What are your thoughts on the situation?