By Adrian Stewart Co
Ilongga Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Negrense Jonah Sabete have quickly found a new home after their former team Sta. Lucia Lady Realtors opted to take a leave of absence in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL).
The Passi City, Iloilo-native Maizo-Pontillas and Escalante City, Negros Occidental-native Sabete have come to terms with the Petro Gazz Angels ahead of the 2022 PVL season.
Maizo-Pontillas, a former standout of University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses, was one of the experienced players in the PVL, having played for different teams and capturing numerous championships.
The 33-year-old opposite spiker, however, played as one of the off-the-bench players for the Lady Realtors during the 2021 PVL Open Conference in Bacarra, Ilocos Norte where the team fell short of a Final Four stint.
Sabete, meanwhile, is returning to the Angels camp after a year of playing for the Lady Realtors, where she had some solid games during the PVL bubble tournament last year.
Aside from Maizo-Pontillas and Sabete, Filipina-Hawaiian volleybelle Mar-Jana Phillips and veterans Shiela Pineda and Djanel Cheng have also joined the Angels from the Lady Realtors.
Maizo-Pontillas, Sabete, Phillips, Pineda, and Cheng will join the Angels remaining players in Myla Pablo, Gretchel Soltones, Mary Remy Palma, Chie Saet, and Seth Rodriguez.
The arrival of the five players is a welcome sight for the Angels after recently parting ways with nine key players led by Marivic Meneses, Frances Xinia Molina and Jerrili Malabanan.
Meneses, Molina and Malabanan have recently agreed to join the revamped Cignal HD Spikers along with other free agents Maristela Layug and Ilongga Glaudine Troncoso, also of Lady Realtors before.
The PVL is looking to open its 2022 season via another bubble tournament tentatively next month with Laguna as one of the venues being considered.ASC, WDJ