HACKENSACK, N.J. – Jeff Brandes has announced the addition of four players to the men's and women's tennis rosters for the 2024-25 season. Both teams are coming off impressive seasons that saw the women reach the NEC Championship match and the men fall just short in the NEC semifinal.
"Everyone in this incoming class shares a common bond in their commitment to academics and the passion they have for tennis and being in a team environment . They are all very motivated to work hard to help their team be successful," said head coach Jeff Brandes. "We welcome Ben, Arya, Nate and Anias to the Knights family and look forward to them continuing the tradition of success at FDU, both on the tennis court and in the classroom."
Benjamin Wrann
Wrann hails from Stockton-on-Tees in England and has trained at the Cultiv8 Tennis Academy in Leeds for the past three years. In Juniors, Wrann was ranked top 25 in Great Britain in every age division. Wrann reached the singles quarterfinal and the doubles semifinal at the Welsh Open. In the men's rankings, Wrann has been ranked as high as 12 on the British Tour leaderboard. He has also competed in a 25k tournament in Sunderland, England and had a close match with an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranked player.
Arya Prabhu
Prabhu hails from Bangalore, India. Currently Prabhu trains at the Marquis Tennis Academy in Bangalore, India. Prabhu has won multiple singles and doubles All India Tennis Association (AITA) tiles in the U14, U16 and U18 divisions and has won multiple state tournaments. Prabhu is currently in the top 150 of the Men's AITA rankings.
Nate Roberman
Roberman is from Marlboro, N.J. He has trained locally at the Garden State Tennis Center in Edison. He attends Marlboro High School in Monmouth County, New Jersey and helped his high school varsity team win the County Championship four times. He went undefeated in all of his high school tennis regular season matches as well as undefeated in the NJ-Shore conference and Monmouth County matches. Roberman has had recent success at tournaments in both singles and doubles. He reached the semifinal of the East Hartford U18 Championships. Roberman was also a quarterfinalist at the Boys 18s Open L4 at Hershey Racquet Club in Pennsylvania and a U18 quarterfinalist at the L5 Open at the Reis Tennis Center in New York. Roberman has also captured doubles titles at the Level 4 Open in R.I, and the L4 Doubles Tournament in Medford, N.J.
Anias Jenkins
Jenkins is from Clifton, N.J. and is eager to continue her athletic and academic journey at FDU. Jenkins played in the number one singles position as a member of the varsity tennis team at Clifton High School. Jenkins was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for 3 consecutive years and helped her team win the Passaic County Championships the past three years. Jenkins has been coached by FDU men's tennis alumnus Esu Maat (1991-1993). This connection has inspired Jenkins to take the next step of her career at FDU.
These new Knights will join the team when they hit the court again in August.
