diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/RoaringDocIdSet.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/RoaringDocIdSet.java
index 4ee409b7706..7d1e877474a 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/RoaringDocIdSet.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/util/RoaringDocIdSet.java
@@ -268,11 +268,8 @@ public class RoaringDocIdSet extends DocIdSet {
 
     Iterator() throws IOException {
       doc = -1;
-      block = 0;
-      while (docIdSets[block] == null) {
-        block += 1;
-      }
-      sub = docIdSets[block].iterator();
+      block = -1;
+      sub = DocIdSetIterator.empty();
     }
 
     @Override