If you want to see Katy Perry pretend to spike a volleyball — while wearing a long silver skirt and jacket that’s entirely inappropriate for the sport — just watch the video at the top of this post.

Volleyball is becoming a running motif on “American Idol,” as Hannah Nicolaisen, an Alabama resident, moves through Season 21 of the ABC reality series. Nicolaisen, 24, is a former standout volleyball player at the University of Illinois Springfield. She’s now working on a career as a singer-songwriter in Montgomery.

Musical ambitions brought Nicolaisen to “Idol,” and her sports past has come into play, too, as producers of the series develop her backstory for viewers. On Monday’s episode, Nicolaisen made the list of top 26 singers, after covering Gavin DeGraw’s “I Don’t Want to Be.”

Nicolaisen’s performance with a full band was part of a segment called the “Showstoppers” round, followed by a meeting with the show’s three celebrity judges: Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.

“You just hear, like, music is tough, people don’t make it in music, have a backup plan,” Nicolaisen said on the episode. “And I think I should probably do something safe. But I don’t really want to do safe right now. … When I ended my career playing volleyball, you kind of have this moment of, like, what do I do with myself? I’ve kind of found that in music, which I never expected. I recognize that I’m in a really special place here.”

In true “Idol” fashion, Perry tried to fake out Nicolaisen before announcing that she’d been chosen for the top 24 (later expanded to a top 26 in a season twist).

“What’s really challenging is, we have to send away all kinds of people that are so close,” Perry said. But she quickly moved into volleyball mode and enthusiastically mimed the actions of spiking a phantom ball, signaling that Nicolaisen had made the cut.

“You’re in our top 24,” Bryan said, just to make sure Nicolaisen got the point. As all three judges moved in for a hug, Perry sealed the deal. “You teach me about volleyball, I’ll teach you about music,” the pop star said.

Nicolaisen’s response? “I will take that deal, any day of the week.”

Alabama has yet to figure into Nicolaisen’s backstory on the show, and she’s been using her hometown of Houston as a geographic touchstone. But no matter: We’re claiming Nicolaisen as an Alabama singer, anyway.

She moved to the state last year, according to her Instagram page, and has been performing in Montgomery venues such as The Tipping Point. Nicolaisen also has worked as a technical recruiter for Stratice in Montgomery, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Now, as she competes for a spot in the “Idol” top 20, Nicolaisen might want to court votes from TV viewers in Alabama. The next two episodes, filmed at a Disney resort in Hawaii, will be the first this season to rely on viewer votes to determine eliminations. (Early episodes of “American Idol” are filmed in advance.)

Allen Stone and Noah Cyrus will be on hand to mentor the contestants on the April 16-17 episodes, according to an ABC press release. Results from viewer voting will be announced on April 23, and the top 20 will be revealed.

RELATED: Alabama singer sails through Hollywood week on ‘American Idol’ with original song, country duet

Alabama has a significant history on “American Idol” that includes wins by Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks in 2003 and 2006. The state also has produced two runners-up, Diana DeGarmo (2004) and Bo Bice (2005). More than 20 other contestants from Alabama have been featured during the auditions, Hollywood week and live performances.

Nicolaisen is the only Alabama singer to make it this far in Season 21. Another singer from the state, Johnny Knox, received a golden ticket to Hollywood, after giving the judges homemade sourdough bread during his audition. However, Knox was eliminated during the Hollywood round after testing positive for COVID and performing for the judges via video from his hotel room.

IF YOU WATCH: “American Idol” airs on Sundays and Mondays at 7 p.m. CT on ABC. The series will move into single weekly episodes later in the competition.