The UW women’s volleyball team came out of the Arizona desert bruised but on top, starting out with a perfect 2-0 record in the Pac-10 and reacing 11-1 overall.

The Huskies barely beat Arizona State (10-5) and Arizona (11-2), skating by 3-2 against both.

“It’s a tough trip,” said coach Jim McLaughlin. “Both of those teams had everybody back from last year, and we usually get their ‘A’ games. There were good things and there were some medium things, and we need to fix those medium things in practice.”

The Huskies finished the first of two nail-biters Friday when they snuck past Arizona State in five games at the Wells Fargo Arena (23-25, 26-24, 16-25, 25-15, 15-12).

Junior Tamari Miyashiro and sophomore Jenna Hagglund set season highs in digs (21) and assists (60), respectively. Jill Collymore also reached a personal season high with 23 kills while simultaneously recording her fourth double-double of the season. Though they only hit .228 as a team, the Huskies out-killed the Sun Devils 66-59 and also had more assists, finishing with 62 to ASU’s 52.

The Huskies required even more skillful play to beat the Wildcats (25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 26-28, 15-8) at the McKale Center Saturday. Miyashiro reached a season high in digs against Arizona with 32, besting a high she set the previous night. Hagglund also had another solid evening, ending with 63 assists — her season high.

The Huskies only had a .216 hit percentage, but they out-killed the Wildcats 69-49. The UW also led in assists (68-46), service aces (5-3) and digs (78-71), but were out-blocked by Arizona 13-6. Lone senior Jessica Swarbrick was the most efficient Husky with 12 kills and a .550 attack percentage, while sophomore Becky Perry led the team with 19 kills while hitting .256.

The fourth game though, couldn’t have been any tighter.

“It was a really close match, especially the fourth game,” said Hagglund. “It turned into a flat-out war in terms of who can serve and pass the best.”

The Huskies pulled out an early 4-1 lead, but the Wildcats tied the game 7-7, then 8-8, and finally pulled ahead with a four-point run. After a five-point run of their own, the Huskies took a 15-14 lead.

The game was tied nine more times, going back and forth before Arizona won on a Washington attack error and a block by Stephanie Snow and Whitney Dosty. The win forced a game five, which the UW won to clinch the match.

“We played our best when we had to,” said McLaughlin. “We played our best in both of those fifth games. It’s good to go on the road and get two wins.”

The Huskies will return home this weekend to take on Pac-10 rivals California and Stanford.

Reach reporter Zach Ruby at sports@dailyuw.com.