Some people thought they would be battling for a playoff spot. Until this weekend, they were battling for the No. 1 seed in the America East.

After crushing Stony Brook Friday night, the Binghamton University women’s volleyball team remained tied for first place in the conference until losing to Maine on Sunday.

The Bearcats (17-11, 9-2 AE) were unable to effectively block Maine’s offensive attack, led by Kaili Jordan’s 20 kills. The Black Bears (10-11, 7-3 AE) won the match by the final scores of 30-24, 23-30, 30-22, 30-26, dropping the Bearcats into second place behind Albany.

“They were coming to get us,” said sophomore middle blocker Jacki Kane, who recorded 10 kills. “We played a good game, but they played a great game.”

Two days prior to the loss, Binghamton buried Stony Brook (10-16, 4-6 AE) by the scores of 30-13, 30-22, 32-30 at the West Gym. The Seawolves made a run in the third game but botched a 29-26 lead, which the Bearcats promptly turned around to complete the three-game sweep.

Binghamton will wrap up the regular season against UMBC this Sunday. The Bearcats are confident they can overpower the Retrievers, and are looking forward to their rematch against the Black Bears in the first round of tournament play.

“We were disappointed on Sunday because we felt we had a legitimate chance to win the match against Maine,” said junior middle blocker Megan Hoag. “I know a lot of people are very anxious to get the chance to play them again.”

The first round of the America East tournament will be nothing short of a dog fight, but head coach Glenn Kiriyama is confident that his young team will be able to prove why they have the second best record in the conference.

“We still have the potential to play a lot better than we have all season,” Kiriyama said. “Next time we face Maine we’ll be up for them. You have that sort of revenge factor in the back of your mind.”