BERKELEY – The well-rested and eighth-ranked California headed to the Midwest Saturday to face 11th-ranked Michigan, but fell 403.100-386.800 in a hard-fought meet.

Aaron Mah's season best 81.600 in the all-around highlighted the afternoon for the Golden Bears and the sophomore walked away with his second meet title of the season.
 
Saturday marked the beginning of the five up, five count scoring format for the remainder of the season. Moving forward, only five-man lineups are allowed with all five scores counted. In the early half of the season, teams were allowed a six-man rotation, with the top five scores counted.

The Bears began the meet on pommel horse, marking a 59.800 as Michigan notched a 67.800 on the floor. Mah led the pommel horse scoring for the Bears recording a13.500.

Cal could never quite catch up with Michigan, scoring a 67.600 in the second round while the Wolverines dominated and scored a 67.650 on pommel horse. The Bears followed with a strong 70.050 on vault, but Michigan came back and scored 70.250 on the same apparatus in the next rotation.
 
The Bears finished the meet strongly, beginning the fifth rotation on the horizontal bar to outscore the Wolverines 63.150-61.400 on the apparatus. Michigan's lead was too substantial to overcome, however, and the Wolverines dominated the parallel bars, to outscore the Bears by nearly five points.

All-arounder Yordan Aleksandrov also gave a notable performance to finish with a 79.250. Aleksandrov won the  high bar with a 13.400. Mah also continued strong and posted a win on floor and scored second behind Aleksandrov on high bar.

Michigan's Emyre Cole scored at least a 13.900 on each apparatus to lead his team. The Wolverines clinched wins on four of the six events, including Ryan Dunning's 14.500 on the rings and Cole's 14.800 on vault.
 
Bears host Air Force at home on March 4 at  7 pm at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley.