Gross, Touchette near perfect fit in first season

Updated: May 23, 2011 9:51PM

Kelly Gross wasn’t sure what the 2011 tennis season would hold for her.

For the three previous seasons, Gross had one girl by her side the entire time — doubles teammate Hanna Tokoly.

Gross and Tokoly played doubles for Crown Point each of the last three years, the last two at No. 1 doubles. So when Tokoly graduated last year, Gross was left wondering what her role would be this season.

“I really had no idea what I was going to do,” said Gross, a senior. “I didn’t even know I was going to play doubles. I knew I wanted to play doubles and hoped for the best.”

As it turns out, Gross found herself a more than capable doubles teammate — senior Gabby Touchette — and the two have paired up to be one of the area’s most formidable No. 1 doubles teams.

“It just kind of happened,” said Gross, who will play basketball for Indiana University-Northwest next season. “We both knew we could play doubles, and I knew she was good. We started doing drills with each other and ended up teammates.”

Touchette is no stranger to doubles. She, too, has played doubles her entire high school career, including the last two seasons at No. 2 doubles for the varsity.

“At first, I thought I might be moved to singles,” Touchette said. “In the preseason we were trying things out, and Kelly and I kind of clicked. We knew it was the right thing.”

Gross and Touchette are 11-3 so far, losing only to the No. 1 doubles teams for Munster, Michigan City, and Valparaiso.

“They’ve played doubles their whole career in high school, so they’re used to it,” Crown Point coach Brian Elston said. “They’re playing really well together. They know what each other is capable of, their strong points and weak points.”

Gross and Touchette have similar strengths. They both like playing the net, and both are aggressive.

“We love the net,” Touchette said. “That’s where we’re strongest. That’s where all our points are scored.”

The pair helped set the tone last week when Crown Point captured its 17th straight sectional title with a win over Lowell. It came one week after the Bulldogs lost to the Red Devils in the regular season.

Gross and Touchette cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 victory, one week after needing three sets to pull out a win against Lowell’s No. 1 doubles team. Gross and Touchette were the first to finish and cheered on the remaining four matches.

“Yeah, Gabby and I came out ready,” Gross said.

The Bulldogs play Bishop Noll in today’s Highland Regional semifinals. The host Trojans meet Munster in the other semifinal.

“We’ve never seen Bishop Noll before,” Touchette said, “but we’ll just take it as it comes.”

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