Michigan coach Bev Plocki watched her final gymnast dash across the floor and land with ease in the corner of the mat. Plocki looked down, smiled and gave a confident fist-pump.

Plocki had just seen junior Kylee Botterman end the evening with a season-high 9.950 score on her floor routine, effectively completing the Michigan women’s gymnastics team’s surprise victory over No. 5 Utah at Crisler Arena.

The 16th-ranked Wolverines battled back from earlier mishaps on the uneven bars and the balance beam to top the Utes in the final rotation, winning by a score of 195.725-195.100.

It was an evening that ended in climactic fashion with a floor performance that had the crowd on its feet.

"I was just thrilled,” Plocki said. “We feel like we’re a very good floor team … and we hit the routines so we got good scores. I knew that when Kylee hit that last tumbling pass we had secured the win.”

As Michigan (3-0 Big Ten, 9-1 overall) headed to its final event – the floor routine – it was trailing by three tenths of a point, and it took three near-perfect runs to overcome the deficit.

The final athletes, senior Sarah Curtis, freshman Natalie Beilstein and Botterman, posted scores of 9.900, 9.875 and 9.950 respectively.

Although the balance beam has been the biggest weakness this season, the major scares against Utah (5-2) were on the uneven bars, where two Wolverines and a Ute all fell.

“Our struggles have been on beam,” Plocki said. “So to come off of an event where we had an uncharacteristic fall, and go straight to beam, the pressure was definitely on.”

The team took the challenge and posted good scores on the beam, with senior captain Kelsey Knutson taking her fourth beam title of the year by tying a season-high score of 9.875.

But it was the strong start on vault and a better finish on the floor that propelled Michigan to the upset.

“We needed to put together four good events to come away with a win,” Plocki said. “This wasn’t Utah’s best night, but we also counted a fall on the bars. It was very big for us to start off strong on vaulting, and that kind of set the tone for the meet.”

Botterman and Curtis were stabilizers throughout the evening, offering very consistent performances to take the top two spots in the all-around. Both athletes took one event title each and tied for first place on the uneven bars.

Ultimately, Botterman edged out her teammate by just one tenth of a point with a 39.475 performance.

“(Sarah) and Kylee both, I put them in the same category,” Plocki said. “They have been performing well all season, and they both had great nights tonight in the all-around.”

With her dual meet-clinching floor routine, Botterman matched her career high on that event, taking her fifth all-around title in seven meets this year.

“I’m always excited to perform floor,” Botterman said. “I don’t usually get nervous, and I definitely wasn’t nervous. It’s always fun when I know I’m going to hit my routine, I have that confidence, and I can help my team to a win.”

Regardless of any early slip-ups, when it came down to crunch time, the team pulled it together.

Before the first performer took her place on the floor routine, the team gathered on the mat. After a few words from coaches, the athletes huddled alone and prepared for the final rotation.

Botterman added some insight into the last-minute huddle.

“We always say, ‘For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack. Let’s Go Blue,’ ” she said.

As a team, the Wolverines needed all they could get from every member of the pack to pull off an upset, and they got it.