Volkl V-Cell 8 315g Racquet Review

Groundstrokes - Score: 78

The Volkl V-Cell 8 315g impressed our team with its speedy swings and easy access to power. Swinging big from the baseline, Michelle appreciated the amount of power this racquet provided, but she was left a bit empty-handed when it came to feel and precision. She explained, "Where do I start? This racquet was loaded with speed and power. I was surprised that a 315-gram racquet played so fast. The beam feels stiff and thick, which translated into loads of power, and the string pattern is pretty open. The V-Cell 8 315 did play a bit erratically for me, though. I got a bit lost in the stringbed, and the feel at contact was quite muted. I've really been working on accelerating through the ball for every shot in a similar manner, whether I'm hitting offensively or defensively, and that did not work well here. I often lost control and missed by feet when I was hitting a simple rally ball. This led to me losing confidence and aiming for larger targets. I like to know where the ball is going when it leaves my stringbed, and unfortunately, I just wasn't always sure with the V-Cell 8 315g — even when I prepared correctly and had my feet in the right position. I found I needed a poly at a minimum of 56 pounds to feel remotely in control of where my balls were going, otherwise I was spraying the ball and lost confidence in my shots."

Although Troy also experienced some unpredictability, he still enjoyed taking chances and going big. He said, "This update took me back to the previous V-Feel 8 315g, in that it was slightly firm and very easy for me to maneuver. When hitting my groundstrokes, my first impression was that there wasn't a ton of feel for the ball, or much feedback. I somewhat expected this based on the thicker beam construction. With that said, I felt like my best game plan with this V-Cell 8 315g in my hand was 'go big or go home.' The easy power and maneuverability helped me rip winners with my forehand and dictate play, but there were times when I had some trust issues. I didn't always have the confidence to take those big swings since the ball would fly on me at times. I found it easy to generate ball speed on my two-handed backhand, but I didn't love the feeling I got when hitting my backhand slice. I much prefer the Volkl V-Feel 10 320g when it comes to my slice and feel shots."

Unlike the rest of the team, Chris enjoyed this racquet when it was strung at a lower tension, where he could capitalize on its power potential. He said, "The V-Cell 8 315g offered easy access to power and spin on groundstrokes. When attacking the ball, I was finding lots of bite from the racquet when strung up with a full bed of Volkl Cyclone string. I was one of the few testers who preferred the power level of the racquet at 52 pounds, where most found it too powerful. At that tension, I felt like I was able to control the power with spin. When we restrung the racquet around 55 pounds I was left wanting for more power in the upper hoop. At the higher tension, I found the power to drop off too quickly outside of the sweetspot, whereas I had no issues at the lower tension. Either way, when the ball hit inside the sweetspot I enjoyed my ability to go from full defense back to offense with one stroke; the racquet had what I call 'bail out of trouble' power."

With a different feel through the air than his current racquet of choice, this V-Cell 8 315g took a bit of an adjustment for Mark. He said, "Extended-length frames have been my point of reference lately, and from the first rip from the baseline, I could feel the increased level of maneuverability with the V-Cell 8 315g. Its 16x18 pattern is widely spaced, even toward the sweetspot, making it pretty easy for me to hit a high arcing ball with lots of spin. I did have a tougher time flattening out my shots, though. That lower 315-ish swingweight eventually benefited my shot depth, but at first, its lightness caused my groundstrokes to land short."

Volleys - Score: 77

Crisp and powerful, the V-Cell 8 315g made it easy to be the aggressor at net. Troy put the racquet to the test in both singles and doubles. He said, "This racquet felt easy to maneuver at net, and it had a firm and lively response. It was fun to use in doubles when I played aggressively and attacked the net, because power came with ease. That said, touch shots weren't necessarily my favorite thing when volleying with this racquet. The feel was firm and muted, and there wasn’t much ball pocketing or responsiveness. This racquet performed best when I hit my volleys with a lot of pace and kept the ball deep in the court. Overall, I prefer a racquet with a bit more precision and feel for the ball when it comes to hitting my volleys."

As a maestro of crafty touch shots, Chris missed a bit of feel on his volleys. He explained, "I found a decently crisp response from the V-Cell 8 315g at net. However, the racquet lacked the connected feel I expect from a Volkl. I would have liked more ball pocketing, with a silkier and smoother feel. As it was, I found ample power to punch the ball away, but I wanted more touch on drop volleys and placement shots. Again, I found good bite from the stringbed for getting spin, and that helped me cut under the ball to get more angle on my cross-court volleys."

"It was fairly easy to volley with this racquet, but there wasn't a ton of feel," Michelle added. "It was best for point-and-shoot volleying and being aggressive. Swinging volleys were great as well, but adding touch was not the strength of this racquet. I often felt like I had a shot perfectly prepared, and it would end up not clearing the net."

Moving forward was a breeze for Mark. He said, “I felt dialed into my volleys after a short amount of time, again getting a sense of this racquet's crisp feel and high degree of maneuverability. Overall, volleying was great, at least up until ball contact was at the tip of the head, or my arm was at full stretch. At that point, I might have preferred a little more graphite in the hoop or some aftermarket weight to help stabilize it."

Serves - Score: 82

When it came to serving, our playtesters raved about the Volkl V-Cell 8 315g's easy spin, plentiful power and fast feel. "This was my favorite shot to hit with the V-Cell 8 315g," said Mark. "The combination of a sub-320 swingweight and a strung weight around 11.5 ounces made it easier for me to maintain control of a faster serve motion."

Michelle was also won over by the V-Cell 8 315g's serve. She said, "This might have been my favorite shot to hit with this racquet. I found easy spin and power on first and second serves. I could pick a big target and be very confident that I'd hit a successful serve with this V-Cell 8 315g. No need to overcomplicate things here; this racquet performed well on serves!"

While Troy also thoroughly enjoyed serving with this racquet, he found it slightly lacking in the accuracy department. He described, "The serve was likely my favorite shot to hit with this V-Cell 8 315g. I found easy power and spin with this racquet. I could hit my first serves hard and flat, and the racquet was rather gentle on my shoulder. I also liked the amount of spin and action I could muster when going for my kick serves. If I had to knock this racquet on serves, I'd say that I didn't feel as precise with my targeting as I would have liked. I think a 98-square-inch version of this racquet would be fun to try. That might help me be a little more precise with my serves and still generate a lot of pace."

Chris enjoyed using spin to get his opponents off court, and he found that it also helped him maintain a high service percentage. He said, "I served pretty well with the V-Cell 8 315g. The racquet came through contact easily, so I had no issues getting lots of pace and spin. My slice serve had plenty of hook to it, and I was able to stretch opponents wide or swing it into their body. Having never finished the race to become 6 feet tall, I don't often go for big flat serves since I simply lack a lot of angle down into the service box. When I did go for flat serves, I felt like I was losing just a little directional control compared to when I hit with spin. I loved the level of spin I was able to generate on my second serve, and I was getting the ball to drop well inside the service box. I felt confident hitting my second serves as hard as I could, and I never really had to worry about missing long."

Returns - Score: 75

Cranking out a powerful return came effortlessly with the Volkl V-Cell 8 315g. However, reining in that power could prove troublesome at times for some of our testers. Chris used the easy power to his advantage, starting points aggressively. He said, "The maneuverable response of the V-Cell 8 315g made it a nice racquet to try to steal the offense right off the return. I enjoyed stepping inside the lines and taking a good cut at the ball. The racquet also offered enough stability to chip returns deep. I was impressed with how solid the racquet felt, even when I was returning bigger serves. As with my groundstrokes, I preferred the racquet strung lower on returns. It made it much more forgiving, which enabled me to still hit with depth even when making contact slightly off-center."

When returning with the V-Cell 8 315g, Michelle struggled to find the precision she desired. She said, "Similar to groundstrokes, this racquet was just too erratic and too much for me when hitting returns. I needed more control for more big swings. When it was good, it was an awesome shot, but it felt unreliable, and it wasn't easy to target my spots. The racquet did come around quickly, but I craved a lot more control and connection to the ball instead of the raw power and spin. On the plus side, it was fairly stable against big servers."

Troy stuck to his motto of going big when returning. He explained, "As I've said in previous sections, it was 'go big or go home' on my returns. The easy power and fast feel of this racquet made me somewhat slap happy; anytime there was a return that landed in my wheelhouse, I wanted to rip it hard and flat. I didn't love how the racquet felt when I needed to slice my backhand return. It was kind of stiff and didn't have a lot of plow through, so the harder I swung, the less jarring the racquet felt on my arms. The easy maneuverability helped me catch up to the ball when facing big servers."

Overall, Mark was satisfied with the V-Cell 8 315g's performance. He said, "For the most part, my serve return was effective. Sort of like my feelings about volleying with this racquet, it wasn’t until ball pace and spin got excessive (on serve) that the racquet ever felt unstable."

Overall - Score: 77