NATIONAL U's three-time champion and MVP Bella Belen became just the third UAAP volleyball player to have her jersey retired by her alma mater on Thursday.
Only two former women’s volleyball stars of the league shared the same honor in Far Eastern University’s Rachel Daquis in 2017 and La Salle’s Illa Santos eight years prior.
While it’s been a norm in men’s basketball to hang jerseys on school rafters, that isn’t quite the case in college volleyball as some schools traditionally do not retire their players’ numbers.
Notwithstanding that premise, SPIN.ph handpicked five players who have also earned the distinction of having their respective numbers immortalized by the schools they brought pride and honor to in their college careers.
ALYSSA VALDEZ (Ateneo) - #2
This one’s a no-brainer.
If Ateneo was to ever consider retiring jerseys, the very first name on the school’s list should be Alyssa Valdez.
Even if no other Blue Eagle has used her iconic #2 since her farewell run in Season 78, or roughly nine years ago, Valdez has more than earned the distinction of having her number and heartstrong legacy immortalized by Ateneo.
The public clamor from within and outside the Ateneo community has always been there since Valdez left Katipunan.
But if anyone ever needed more proof of why her jersey needs to hang atop the rafters of the Blue Eagle Gym, here’s her case.
Valdez led the post-‘Fab Five’ Lady Eagles’ Cinderella run in Season 76, one where they had to climb a grueling stepladder to topple Adamson, National University and thrice-to-beat La Salle to win Ateneo’s first-ever UAAP volleyball championship.
In that campaign, Valdez was named best scorer, best server, finals MVP and season MVP, making her the first UAAP player to win four awards in a single campaign.
She won another title a season later and reached the UAAP finals against La Salle in her entire college career.
Combining both the UAAP and then-Shakey’s V-League, the ‘Phenom’ won six season MVP awards (three with Ateneo, three with UST High School), best scorer six times, best server four times and finals MVP thrice along with best attacker and Rookie of the Year plums, too.
Including international play, Valdez copped four golds with Ateneo, five silvers and three bronze medals.
But above all, it’s her undisputed legacy beyond the confines of Ateneo in ushering the ascent of Philippine volleyball that will forever make Valdez a pillar, icon and legend of the sport.
And as far as her #2 for the blue-and-white is concerned, that number should never be touched or used ever again.
AIZA MAIZO-PONTILLAS (UST) - #8
‘Nang Aiza’ is a born winner. All of España knows that.
The likes of new-generation stars Eya Laure and Jolina dela Cruz sported the #8 in their respective UAAP careers because of Maizo-Pontillas.
With her legacy continuously influencing today’s rising stars, it still remains a necessary call after all these years for UST to immortalize her iconic number once and for all.
Maizo was part of the last Golden Tigresses team to win the UAAP title back in Season 72 to cap her two-title run, the first being won in her sophomore year in Season 69.
Altogether, she won two golds, a silver and a bronze in her UAAP career.
Including V-League and University Games play, Maizo has won eight championships for España and a pair of silver and bronze medals, too.
She even holds quite a rare distinction of winning an individual award in nearly every role or position, including best scorer, attacker, receiver and blocker, during her time as a Golden Tigress.
From starting off as a reserve setter in Season 68 in 2005 to all these years later, Maizo’s longevity and excellence have been quite unmatched after numerous successes in her tours of duty for club and country.
As the records would show, she has won gold in every domestic competition she’s been part of since high school and is now an 12-time champion across multiple leagues in the local club volleyball scene.
At 37, the sport hasn’t seen too many greats still shine at the highest level quite like ‘Nang Aiza’ has and continues to do so.
MARCK ESPEJO (Ateneo) - #15
It’s also due time to give the men’s game its flowers.
No UAAP men’s volleyball player has ever had his jersey retired by his alma mater.
If one was to look back on a possible candidate, Marck Espejo has more than enough reasons to be up there in that conversation.
Like Valdez, Espejo had himself a phenomenal college career as a Blue Eagle.
He became the league’s first-ever rookie-MVP in Season 76, delivering instant impact right off the gate and even led Ateneo to its first finals appearance and podium appearance that year.
Espejo also holds the lone distinction of being the only UAAP volleyball player to become MVP in all five seasons he played from Seasons 76 to 80.
At least in modern UAAP history, such a feat is unheard of.
Speaking of unprecedented breakthroughs, Espejo stands alone as the sole single-game scoring record-holder when he unleashed 55 points built on 47 attacks, six blocks and two aces past FEU in Game One of their Season 80 Final Four duel.
He out-attacked the entire Tamaraws side (46) and just fell one point shy of breaking the country’s all-time record of 56 points set by Cuban import Gyselle Silva for Smart against Cocolife in the defunct Philippine Superliga.
Having led Ateneo to a historic three-peat from Seasons 77 to 79, Espejo’s trail of history continued way beyond his years in Katipunan both for club and country.
He became the first Filipino men’s volleyball player to play overseas for Oita Miyoshi Weisse Adler in Japan, followed by subsequent stints in Korea, Thailand and Bahrain.
Now that’s a real legacy.
ABY MARAÑO (La Salle) - #2
‘Tyang Aby’ has long been the embodiment of leadership at the highest level since she first set foot on the hardcourt.
Her captaincy for the heralded De La Salle Lady Spikers went beyond giving instructions and rallying her teammates on.
Maraño was a steady anchor at the center of it all through the Taft side’s historic highs and rare lows.
She’s a team player for sure, but she has also cemented her stature as one of the best middle blockers to have ever graced the game from her college years and all the way to the club volleyball scene.
Maraño was among the first to join an exclusive five-player club of multiple-time UAAP MVP winners along with fellow Lady Spiker Desiree Hernandez, FEU’s Ailyn Ege, Valdez and Belen.
She won the top individual award in Season 74 and shared the honors in an unprecedented year with teammate Ara Galang the year later. It was also in Season 75 where she won her first of many top middle blocker plums in her career.
A key figure of La Salle’s reign of dominance in the early 2010s, Maraño was part of the school’s second women’s volleyball three-peat from Seasons 73 to 75.
Despite a seismic fall to Ateneo in Season 76, Maraño went down with one of the most decorated college sporting resumes
To date, she has won the best middle blocker award 11 times across various competitions.
And as far as medals go, she has won gold six times combined with Petron and F2 Logistics in the PSL, silver eight times and bronze six times.
A respected captain for club and country, it goes without any doubt that Maraño has and will always be remembered as one of the very best to have ever played and fought for the green-and-white.
JIA MORADO-DE GUZMAN (Ateneo) - #12
There aren’t as many setters who continue to beam with excellence and longevity in the sport today.
Jia’s still one of them, after all these years, from college to the pros and for country and overseas.
Morado-de Guzman was twice a champion with Ateneo in the UAAP and, with Valdez, formed one of Philippine volleyball’s most iconic and dominant spiker-setter duos.
Her swift ball distribution and ability to maximize Ateneo’s rock-solid hitters turned her into one of the UAAP’s most respected playmakers.
The Lady Eagles’ eventual back-to-back title runs in Seasons 76 and 77 had her signature playmaking at the forefront, laying the foundation for the school’s era of volleyball success in the mid-2010s.
In that Season 76 run, Morado’s playmaking charged Ateneo in what has since went down as among the most inspiring championship runs and underdog stories the UAAP has seen by toppling three-peat-seeking and thrice-to-beat La Salle.
From one breakthrough campaign to another, Season 77 best setter Morado kept the Lady Eagles afloat in a near-perfect campaign with just one loss in that entire title run.
The heartstrong legacy she was part of in Ateneo cascaded to the pros with the likes of Valdez and Ella de Jesus at Creamline, the country’s most successful pro volleyball team.
Even in the midst of a two-year PVL absence, Jia still stands as the league’s most decorated playmaker with eight best setter awards, seven titles and four finals MVPs.
To top it all off, Alas Pilipinas’ captain now has three international best setter awards to her name in just a span of over a year.
From her promising two-year run in Japan as Denso Airybees’ second setter to her impending PVL comeback, her name will always be high up the list of the country’s all-time greats in her position.
And truly, she still is ‘Jia-mazing.’
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