Any team welcomes a win, but winning away from the home crowd and against tough competition is even bigger.

The Penn State men's gymnastics team found this out as it topped the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Saturday evening.

"It feels good to win because I knew that Michigan was good. I knew if we could beat them there, that was a sign of how the season would go," junior Duke Van Vleet said. "If we can beat them there, we can beat them anywhere."

The No. 3 Nittany Lions defeated No. 4 Michigan, 212.250-209.700, in its first Big Ten matchup of the season at the Cliff Keen Arena in Ann Arbor, to improve to 9-0. This was the first home loss for Michigan since January 1999 when Ohio State defeated them.

Junior Kevin Donohue, who was named the Big Ten gymnast of the week following his performance against the University of Massachusetts, led the Lions by capturing the all-around title for the second weekend in a row, with a score of 51.650. He had personal bests and placed first on the floor exercise (9.600) and high bar (9.450) as well as placing third on pommel horse (8.550) and vault (9.150).

"I think I did really well and improved on almost every event," the all-around winner said. "Things are coming together a lot better. We have a chance to go out and do some damage."

Another major contributor for the Lions was junior Matt Abboud, who finished second in the all-around competition behind Donohue, with a score of 51.650. Abboud picked up second place finishes on the pommel horse (8.650), vault (9.200) and parallel bars (8.900).

Although he placed second in the all-around, Abboud still is not satisfied and knows there is work to be done.

"We're getting better, but we're not there yet," he said. "We know our mistakes now and can learn from them and the stupid mistakes won't happen now -- I hope."

Again, the pommel horse continued to be a tough spot for the Lions, but improvements were seen as Donohue and Abboud placed in the top three in the event. Dismounts proved to be the troublesome spots this weekend, as many of the gymnasts had trouble sticking their landings. The dismounts are one of the most important parts of the routines because it is the last thing the judges see.

"We tried to address the dismounts in practice," head coach Randy Jepson said. "We have to do better if we want higher scores. We can get through the routine, but we want to leave that good impression at the end."

Being the first big away meet, Jepson went into the event with the hopes of learning more about his team. He saw some people come through strong, while others were somewhat timid.

"If you hold back, you're not giving your best effort," Jepson said. "You really need to go for it out there. The guys know they need to work on their mental game."