Aiza Maizo-Pontillas

Aiza Maizo-Pontillas (born February 29, 1988) is a Filipina professional volleyball player. She was a former member and team captain of the UST Golden Tigresses, and a member of the Philippines women's national volleyball team. She led the España-based squad to its 16th and, as of 2018, latest championship in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) league. She was a Shakey's V-League (SVL) three-time Finals and two-time Season Most Valuable Player. Maizo is known for bagging several best-of awards in almost all volleyball skill departments in UAAP and SVL, excluding setting and digging. She is also known as the first Filipina in the entire franchise of SVL to take both Finals and Season MVP in a single conference twice.

Aiza Maizo-Pontillas
Personal information
Nickname	Aiza, Nang
Nationality	Filipino
Born	(1988-02-29) February 29, 1988 (age 35)
Hometown	Passi City, Iloilo, Philippines
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	69 kg (152 lb)
Spike	280 cm (110 in)
Block	275 cm (108 in)
College / University	University of Santo Tomas
Volleyball information
Position	Opposite spiker
Current club	Petro Gazz Angels
Career
Years Teams 2007 University of Santo Tomas 2010–2013 Cagayan Valley 2013 Petron 2013 PLDT 2014–2015 Cagayan Valley 2016–2020 Petron 2021 Sta. Lucia 2022–present Petro Gazz
National team
2014–present Philippines
Honours Women's Volleyball Representing  Philippines ASEAN Grand Prix 2019 Nakhon Ratchasima/Santa Rosa Team

Education

Maizo graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor of Science in Food Technology.

Volleyball career

Collegiate career

Maizo started her collegiate volleyball career as a back-up setter of the UST Golden Tigresses in UAAP Season 68. In Season 69, she transitioned into an Opposite Hitter by Coach August Sta. Maria of UST.^{[citation needed]} UST gets its 14th championship title, her first championship as a player in UAAP. She came back in Season 71 as team captain and led UST into 3rd place and won the Best Attacker award.^{[citation needed]} In Season 72, Maizo and the rest of UST Golden Tigresses defeated De La Salle University and hailed as UAAP Champions, her second championship title in UAAP.^{[citation needed]} Maizo received Best Scorer and Best Receiver awards led UST into finals appearance but ended her collegiate career as runner-up losing to arch-rival De La Salle University in UAAP Season 73.^{[citation needed]}

Maizo was part of the 5 championship titles of UST in Shakey's V-League.^{[citation needed]} She and the UST Golden Tigresses hailed as back to back champions in V-League 4th Season, 1st and 2nd Conference against arch-rivals, San Sebastian College-Recoletos. In V-League 5th Season, 2nd Conference, UST loss to SSC-R in finals, Maizo bagged the Best Server of the season.^{[citation needed]}

She also led the UST Golden Tigresses in back to back to back championships.^{[citation needed]} In V-League 6th Season, 1st Conference, UST won the championship against San Sebastian College-Recoletos and she won the Best Blocker award.^{[citation needed]} UST won the V-League 6th Season, 2nd Conference against Adamson University and she was the first and only player awarded both Conference MVP and Finals MVP.^{[citation needed]} Maizo led the UST into championship in V-League 7th Season, 1st Conference and won the Best Attacker and Finals MVP awards.^{[citation needed]}

Semi professional career

In the Shakey's V-League 12th Season Open Conference, Maizo-Pontillas helped Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns to reach the third place of the tournament.^[1] She later won the Shakey's V-League 12th Season Reinforced Open Conference with PLDT Home Ultera Fast Hitters.^[2] She was sidelined from the national team set to compete in the 2015 Southeast Asian Games,^[3] but she was later hired as assistant coach for the games.^[4] She played the 2016 Philippine Superliga Invitational Cup with Petron Tri-Activ Spikers having won the second place of the tournament and the Best Opposite Spiker individual award.^[5]

With Petron Blaze Spikers, Maizo-Pontillas won the 2017 PSL Grand Prix Conference silver medal.^[6] The following year, she together with Stalzer, Katherine Bell and Rhea Dimaculangan led Petron to the 2018 PSL Grand Prix Conference championship.^[7]

Clubs

•   UST Golden Tigresses (2007–2011)
•   Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns (2010-2015)
•   PLDT Home Ultera Fast Hitters (2015)
•   Petron Tri-Activ Spikers (2013, 2016–2020)
•   Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors (2021)
•   Petro Gazz Angels (2022-)

Awards

Individuals

• 2008 Shakey's V-League 2nd Conference "Best Server"
• UAAP Season 71 "Best Scorer"
• UAAP Season 71 "Best Attacker"
• 2009 Shakey's V-League 1st Conference "Best Blocker"
• 2009 Shakey's V-League 2nd Conference "Final's Most Valuable Player"
• 2009 Shakey's V-League 2nd Conference "Season's Most Valuable Player"
• 2010 Shakey's V-League 1st Conference "Final's Most Valuable Player"
• 2010 Shakey's V-League 1st Conference "Best Attacker"
• UAAP Season 73 "Best Scorer"
• UAAP Season 73 "Best Receiver"
• 2014 Shakey's V-League Reinforced Open Conference "Finals Most Valuable Player"
• 2014 Shakey's V-League Reinforced Open Conference "Conference Most Valuable Player"
• 2014 Shakey's V-League Reinforced Open Conference "Best Scorer"
• 2016 Philippine Superliga Invitational Cup "Best Opposite Spiker"
• 2016 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix "2nd Best Opposite Spiker"
• 2017 PSL All-Filipino "Most Valuable Player"
• 2018 Philippine Superliga Invitational Cup "Best Opposite Spiker"
• 2018 Philippine SuperLiga All-Filipino Conference "Best Opposite Spiker"
• 2019 Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference "Best Opposite Spiker"

Club

• UAAP Season 69 -   Champion, with UST Golden Tigresses
• 2008 Shakey's V-League 2nd Conference -   1st Runner-Up, with UST Golden Tigresses
• UAAP Season 71 -   2nd Runner-Up, with UST Golden Tigresses
• 2009 Shakey's V-League 1st Conference -   Champion, with UST Golden Tigresses
• 2009 Shakey's V-League 2nd Conference -   Champion, with UST Golden Tigresses
• 2009 University Games -   Champion, with UST Golden Tigresses ^[8]
• UAAP Season 72 -   Champion, with UST Golden Tigresses
• 2010 Shakey's V-League 1st Conference -   Champion, with UST Golden Tigresses
• UAAP Season 73 -   1st Runner-Up, with UST Golden Tigresses
• 2012 Shakey's V-League Open Conference -   1st Runner-Up, with Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns
• 2013 Shakey's V-League Open Conference -   Champion, with Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns
• 2013 POC-PSC Philippine National Games -   1st Runner-Up, with Cagayan Volley Bomberinas
• 2013 Cagayan Friendship Games -   Champion, with Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns
• 2014 Shakey's V-League Open Conference -   1st Runner-up, with Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns
• 2014 Shakey's V-League Reinforced Open Conference -   Champion, with Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns
• 2014 POC-PSC Philippine National Games -   2nd Runner-Up, with Cagayan Volley Bomberinas
• 2014 Cagayan Friendship Games -   Champion, with Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns
• 2015 Shakey's V-League Open Conference -   2nd-Runner Up, with Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns
• 2015 Cagayan Friendship Games -   2nd Runner-up, with Cagayan Valley Lady Rising Suns
• 2015 Shakey's V-League Reinforced Open Conference -   Champion, with PLDT Home Ultera Fast Hitters
• 2016 Philippine SuperLiga Invitational Cup -   1st Runner-up, with Petron Tri-Activ Spikers
• 2016 Philippine SuperLiga Grand Prix Conference -   1st Runner-up, with Petron Tri-Activ Spikers
• 2017 Philippine Super Liga Invitational Cup -   1st Runner-up, with Petron Tri-Activ Spikers
• 2017 Philippine SuperLiga All-Filipino Conference -   Champion, with Petron Blaze Spikers
• 2017 Philippine SuperLiga Grand Prix Conference -   1st Runner-up, with Petron Blaze Spikers
• 2018 Philippine SuperLiga Grand Prix Conference -   Champion, with Petron Blaze Spikers
• 2018 Philippine SuperLiga All-Filipino Conference -   Champion, with Petron Blaze Spikers
• 2022 PVL Open Conference -   Runner-up, with Petro Gazz Angels
• 2022 PVL Reinforced Conference -   Champion, with Petro Gazz Angels

References

1. Escarlonte, Mark (May 24, 2015). "Cagayan Valley takes SVL Open Conference third place trophy". ABS-CBN. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
2. Lozada, Mei-Lin (December 6, 2015). "Alyssa Valdez stars as PLDT Home Ultera beats Army to complete V-League title run". Spin. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
3. Panaligan, Marisse (May 22, 2015). "Daquis, Valdez lead national lineup for SEA Games volleyball; Maizo-Pontillas". GMA News. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
4. Panaligan, Marisse (May 27, 2015). "Aiza Maizo admits surprise over appointment as nat'l team assistant coach". GMA News. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
5. Reyes, Marc Anthony (April 10, 2016). "RC Cola-Army rules Superliga Invt'l Cup". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved October 7, 2016.
6. Lozada, Bong (December 16, 2017). "F2 completes comeback, wins PSL Grand Prix title at expense of Petron". The Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
7. "Petron gets payback, snares PSL Grand Prix crown".
8. "UAAP bets shine in UniGames". November 4, 2009.