For just the third time since 1930, Neenah High School has hired a boys tennis coach.

Kyle Falk has been chosen to succeed Tom Berven, who recently retired after 48 illustrious seasons as the Rockets’ head coach. Berven had succeeded Ivy Williams, who coached for 40 years.

In addition, Jeff Lucas has been named the interim varsity girls tennis coach for the upcoming season. Lucas replaces Kelly Van Handel, who resigned in June after six highly-successful seasons as head coach. The school will search for a long-term replacement following the season.

Falk takes over a Neenah program that has won 19 consecutive Fox Valley Association championships and 121 straight conference matches. He is currently in his second season as the head girls coach at Stevens Point Area Senior High School and will continue in that role and his position as a business education teacher in Stevens Point. Previously, Falk was the head boys and girls tennis coach at La Crosse Central High School for five seasons.

Falk is familiar with Neenah tennis and the athletes, having assisted Berven with the Neenah Park and Recreation summer program for the past 10 summers. In high school, he played No. 2 doubles for Eau Claire Memorial teams that were both eliminated by Neenah at the state team tournament in 2001 and 2002. Falk attended UW-Eau Claire and completed graduate work at UW-Whitewater.

“Neenah has one of the greatest traditions in high school tennis history and we want to keep that strong for the current and upcoming kids,” Falk said. “Tom and Ivy made great commitments, not only to tennis, but also to this community. I’m looking forward to continuing that legacy.”

“To say Kyle has big shoes to fill is a significant understatement,” said Neenah Activities Director Josh Murnane. “However, with his connections to Neenah tennis through the summer program and his association with Coach Berven, we’re confident he’s the right choice and will make this a smooth transition.”

Lucas has been the girls junior varsity coach alongside Van Handel for the past six years. He also will continue as the longtime boys junior varsity coach. Lucas taught 31 years in Neenah and recently retired from Lakeview Elementary School.

Van Handel led the Rockets to the state team tournament in each of her six seasons as head coach and helped Neenah reach the state championship match the past four seasons, including the school’s first state title in 2015. The former Neenah player amassed a 97-13 career coaching record in dual matches. Her teams won conference titles every season and went 50-0 in conference dual matches. Van Handel coached Kiki Risgaard to the Division 1 singles title this past season and Risgaard and Christina Price to the Division 1 doubles title in 2016.

“Kelly raised our program to a standard that’s clearly one of the best in the state,” Murnane said. “Jeff’s experience is a perfect fit to ensure we find the right person to keep our program at a high level in the long term.”

The girls tennis team will begin practice on August 7. An informational meeting for girls interested in participating will be held on July 31 at 6 p.m. in the Conant Little Theater at Neenah High School.