After upsetting No. 12 Nebraska on Senior Night last week, the Michigan women’s gymnastics team traveled to Gainesville on Friday, looking for similar results against another top team.

But No. 4 Florida had other ideas on their Senior Night Friday before a raucous crowd, dealing the 14th-ranked Wolverines a close loss, 196.825 to 196.325.

Michigan (13-4) fell behind early before making a late charge and closing the gap to .3 points with just one rotation left, but came up just short in the end.

The Wolverines' point total was their best road performance of the season by more than a full point. This means Michigan may still move up in the national rankings, which based on the average of each team’s three best home and away scores.

“We did exactly what we needed to do tonight,” Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. “We came into a big arena against a top-five team and we performed our best.”

Before Michigan's postseason tournaments start in two weeks, Plocki said there were a few things she felt her team needed to work on in order to succeed, namely eliminating sloppy mistakes on the bars. But she added the team's main concern is getting everyone healthy.

“We’re putting it together at the right time of the season and that’s a great sign going into the postseason,” Plocki said. “We didn’t have to count any falls this weekend, so this was a great step for us, and we had a much better meet tonight than we did (two weeks ago) against (then-No. 1) Utah."

Sophomore Kylee Botterman led the Wolverines with another outstanding meet. She finished second all-around and tied for first on the floor. With a score of 39.325, she continued her streak of finishing above 39 points in each of the seven all-arounds she has participated in this season.

Botterman also garnered extra confidence Saturday by using the cheers of Gator Nation to her own advantage.

“Big crowds are definitely more fun — we kind of take advantage of that,” Botterman said. “We just pretend that they’re all cheering for us. Every time one of the Florida girls finished a routine, we just acted like they were cheering for us, and it got us pumped up for whoever came next.

“I think it really helped (playing Florida on the road), and it’s just a great experience before we start Big Tens and Nationals and it will help us for the long run.”

Michigan will get one more shot at a difficult opponent in a hostile environment before the Big Ten Championships. This Saturday, the Wolverines travel south to face top-ranked Georgia in Athens, Ga. for yet another Senior Night in their final pre-tournament test.