The following is an excerpt of a story published in The State Journal-Register on March 16, 2023.
"A former volleyball star at the University of Illinois Springfield has secured a golden ticket from "American Idol" judges.
Hannah Nicolaisen, 23, who graduated from UIS last spring, is bound for Hollywood.
Judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie fawned over Nicolaisen's rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love" on the ABC reality series Sunday.
Nicolaisen's singing acumen was familiar to UIS volleyball coach, Kamille Jones.
The first day Jones met Nicolaisen in 2021, she picked up a guitar, "so I knew she was musically inclined," Jones said Wednesday."