diff --git a/qa/restart-upgrade/src/test/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/bwc/HybridSearchIT.java b/qa/restart-upgrade/src/test/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/bwc/HybridSearchIT.java
index 6e13fc7a9..4edec0750 100644
--- a/qa/restart-upgrade/src/test/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/bwc/HybridSearchIT.java
+++ b/qa/restart-upgrade/src/test/java/org/opensearch/neuralsearch/bwc/HybridSearchIT.java
@@ -94,9 +94,9 @@ private void validateTestIndex(String modelId) throws Exception {
             1,
             Map.of("search_pipeline", SEARCH_PIPELINE_NAME)
         );
+        assertNotNull(searchResponseAsMap);
         int hits = getHitCount(searchResponseAsMap);
         assertEquals(1, hits);
-        assertNotNull(searchResponseAsMap);
     }
 
     public HybridQueryBuilder getQueryBuilder(String modelId) {