diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/processor/NormalizationProcessor.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/processor/NormalizationProcessor.java
index b2e14122b..969e1710c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/processor/NormalizationProcessor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/processor/NormalizationProcessor.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Objects;
+import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 import lombok.AllArgsConstructor;
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ public <Result extends SearchPhaseResult> void process(
             return;
         }
         List<QuerySearchResult> querySearchResults = getQueryPhaseSearchResults(searchPhaseResult);
-        FetchSearchResult fetchSearchResult = searchPhaseResult.getAtomicArray().asList().get(0).fetchResult();
+        FetchSearchResult fetchSearchResult = getFetchSearchResults(searchPhaseResult);
         normalizationWorkflow.execute(querySearchResults, fetchSearchResult, normalizationTechnique, combinationTechnique);
     }
 
@@ -123,4 +124,9 @@ private <Result extends SearchPhaseResult> List<QuerySearchResult> getQueryPhase
             .map(result -> result == null ? null : result.queryResult())
             .collect(Collectors.toList());
     }
+
+    private <Result extends SearchPhaseResult> FetchSearchResult getFetchSearchResults(final SearchPhaseResults<Result> results) {
+        Optional<Result> optionalFirstResult = results.getAtomicArray().asList().stream().findFirst();
+        return optionalFirstResult.map(SearchPhaseResult::fetchResult).orElse(null);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/processor/NormalizationProcessorWorkflow.java b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/processor/NormalizationProcessorWorkflow.java
index 5c3ba76bb..2fccb702a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/processor/NormalizationProcessorWorkflow.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/processor/NormalizationProcessorWorkflow.java
@@ -82,7 +82,15 @@ private List<CompoundTopDocs> getQueryTopDocs(final List<QuerySearchResult> quer
             .map(CompoundTopDocs::new)
             .collect(Collectors.toList());
         if (queryTopDocs.size() != querySearchResults.size()) {
-            log.warn("Some of querySearchResults are not produced by hybrid query");
+            log.error(
+                String.format(
+                    Locale.ROOT,
+                    "sizes of querySearchResults [%d] and queryTopDocs [%d] must match. Most likely some of query results were not formatted correctly by the hybrid query",
+                    querySearchResults.size(),
+                    queryTopDocs.size()
+                )
+            );
+            throw new IllegalStateException("found inconsistent system state while processing score normalization and combination");
         }
         return queryTopDocs;
     }
@@ -131,7 +139,10 @@ private void updateOriginalFetchResults(
         FetchSearchResult fetchSearchResult = fetchSearchResultOptional.get();
         SearchHits searchHits = fetchSearchResult.hits();
 
-        // create map of docId to index of search hits, handles (2)
+        // create map of docId to index of search hits. This solves (2), duplicates are from
+        // delimiter and start/stop elements, they all have same valid doc_id. For this map
+        // we use doc_id as a key, and all those special elements are collapsed into a single
+        // key-value pair.
         Map<Integer, SearchHit> docIdToSearchHit = Arrays.stream(searchHits.getHits())
             .collect(Collectors.toMap(SearchHit::docId, Function.identity(), (a1, a2) -> a1));