After a strong performance last weekend at the Pacific Coast Classic, the No. 5 men’s gymnastics team (8-1) looks to keep rolling when it faces Michigan tonight at 7 p.m. in Burnham Pavilion. The Wolverines (11-3) are currently the top-ranked team in the nation, but they looked shaky in what some might consider a surprising upset last weekend.

Michigan placed fourth in a meet that featured six teams ranked in the top 10 nationally while the Cardinal took second place in an impressive performance. But Stanford knows that beating the Wolverines twice in one week will not be an easy task.

Michigan currently holds the best team-total average score in the country (218.717) and is ranked first nationally in the floor exercise (37.85) and the parallel bars (37.017). They are also ranked second nationally in the pommel horse, still rings and high bar. Like the Cardinal (2-0), the Wolverines have a perfect record in dual meets this season (4-0). Stanford will counter the Wolverines with top rankings of its own — the squad is ranked fourth in the country in the pommel horse, still rings and high bar.

The Cardinal’s return last weekto a healthy lineup will be short-lived, as two freshmen suffered injuries early this week during practice routines. Freshman Eric Hergenrader broke his hand and fellow freshman Lucas Hughes dislocated his finger. Hughes may still compete in three events, but, unfortunately, Hergenrader will have to undergo season-ending surgery.

“We are disappointed by the injuries and surrounding circumstances,” senior captain David Sender said. “But I hope we’ll take it as a challenge to really step up.”

Another blow to the Cardinal came when Sender told the team he would have to miss the meet due to an undisclosed circumstance.

“I hope the team will rally around my absence and put all they have out on the floor [tonight],” Sender said.

An interesting factor to consider is how the meet’s judging may make the Wolverines more vulnerable.

“The West Coast has been known for more realistic judging,” senior captain Peter Derman said. “Scores in the East [Coast] tend to be a bit more inflated, so when teams from the East [Coast] come out here and see that their scores aren’t as high, they get disappointed.”

Stanford trails Michigan in almost every statistical category per the rankings, but the Cardinal believes that part of the difference has to do with the unbalanced judging.

“We are better than our rankings may indicate,” Derman added. “With more legitimate scoring on the West Coast and also at the NCAAs, we are not a team to be overlooked.”

Junior Eli Alcaraz believes that Stanford can handle the highly touted Wolverines.

“One of our team ideals is that we go out and do our own gymnastics,” Alcaraz said. “We may be the underdogs [versus Michigan], but we are just off a win against them last week, and no one on the team expects anything less than a repeat.”