diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/document/SortedSetDocValuesRangeQuery.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/document/SortedSetDocValuesRangeQuery.java
index 7834ce4a504..301cf8d4b95 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/document/SortedSetDocValuesRangeQuery.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/document/SortedSetDocValuesRangeQuery.java
@@ -16,11 +16,15 @@
  */
 package org.apache.lucene.document;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Objects;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.DocValues;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.DocValuesSkipper;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.LeafReaderContext;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.SortedSetDocValues;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.ConstantScoreScorer;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.ConstantScoreWeight;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.DocIdSetIterator;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.FieldExistsQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.IndexSearcher;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Query;
@@ -32,9 +36,6 @@ import org.apache.lucene.search.SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Weight;
 import org.apache.lucene.util.BytesRef;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.util.Objects;
-
 final class SortedSetDocValuesRangeQuery extends Query {
 
   private final String field;
@@ -148,7 +149,15 @@ final class SortedSetDocValuesRangeQuery extends Query {
               }
             }
 
-            return new SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer(field, values, minOrd, maxOrd, scoreMode, score(), skipper, context);
+            // no terms matched in this segment
+            if (minOrd > maxOrd
+                || (skipper != null
+                    && (minOrd > skipper.maxValue() || maxOrd < skipper.minValue()))) {
+              return new ConstantScoreScorer(score(), scoreMode, DocIdSetIterator.empty());
+            }
+
+            return new SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer(
+                field, values, minOrd, maxOrd, scoreMode, score(), skipper, context.reader());
           }
 
           @Override
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/DocValuesRewriteMethod.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/DocValuesRewriteMethod.java
index c0b5f76425e..d4d98f8b908 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/DocValuesRewriteMethod.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/DocValuesRewriteMethod.java
@@ -178,24 +178,35 @@ public final class DocValuesRewriteMethod extends MultiTermQuery.RewriteMethod {
               assert minOrd >= 0;
               long maxOrd = -1;
               long prev = minOrd - 1;
-              boolean hasGaps = false;
+              boolean contiguous = true;
               do {
                 long ord = termsEnum.ord();
                 assert ord >= 0 && ord > maxOrd;
                 if (ord - prev > 1) {
-                  hasGaps = true;
+                  contiguous = false;
                 }
                 prev = ord;
                 maxOrd = ord;
                 termSet.set(ord);
               } while (termsEnum.next() != null);
 
+              // no terms matched in this segment
               if (skipper != null && (minOrd > skipper.maxValue() || maxOrd < skipper.minValue())) {
                 return new ConstantScoreScorer(score(), scoreMode, DocIdSetIterator.empty());
               }
 
-              if (hasGaps == false) {
-                return new SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer(query.field, values, minOrd, maxOrd, scoreMode, score(), skipper, context);
+              // if the term set happens to create a contiguous range we can optimize with a range
+              // scorer
+              if (contiguous) {
+                return new SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer(
+                    query.field,
+                    values,
+                    minOrd,
+                    maxOrd,
+                    scoreMode,
+                    score(),
+                    skipper,
+                    context.reader());
               }
 
               final SortedDocValues singleton = DocValues.unwrapSingleton(values);
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer.java
index 148523d7e70..5267acf5299 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer.java
@@ -16,17 +16,24 @@
  */
 package org.apache.lucene.search;
 
-import org.apache.lucene.index.DocValues;
-import org.apache.lucene.index.DocValuesSkipper;
-import org.apache.lucene.index.LeafReader;
-import org.apache.lucene.index.LeafReaderContext;
-import org.apache.lucene.index.SortedDocValues;
-import org.apache.lucene.index.SortedSetDocValues;
-
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.function.LongPredicate;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.DocValues;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.DocValuesSkipper;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.LeafReader;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.SortedDocValues;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.SortedSetDocValues;
 
+/**
+ * Implements a "slow" {@link Scorer} for a term range defined by min/max ordinals. This is really
+ * just a common implementation detail of a couple different queries and not intended to be directly
+ * used (but must be public due to our package structure). You're probably better off looking at
+ * {@link org.apache.lucene.document.SortedSetDocValuesField#newSlowRangeQuery} or {@link
+ * org.apache.lucene.document.SortedSetDocValuesField#newSlowSetQuery}.
+ *
+ * @lucene.experimental
+ */
 public class SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer extends Scorer {
   final Scorer delegate;
 
@@ -38,8 +45,9 @@ public class SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer extends Scorer {
       ScoreMode scoreMode,
       float score,
       DocValuesSkipper skipper,
-      LeafReaderContext context) throws IOException {
-    delegate = setupScorer(field, values, minOrd, maxOrd, scoreMode, score, skipper, context);
+      LeafReader reader)
+      throws IOException {
+    delegate = setupScorer(field, values, minOrd, maxOrd, scoreMode, score, skipper, reader);
   }
 
   static Scorer setupScorer(
@@ -50,21 +58,14 @@ public class SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer extends Scorer {
       ScoreMode scoreMode,
       float score,
       DocValuesSkipper skipper,
-      LeafReaderContext context) throws IOException {
-    // no terms matched in this segment
-    if (minOrd > maxOrd
-        || (skipper != null
-        && (minOrd > skipper.maxValue() || maxOrd < skipper.minValue()))) {
-      return new ConstantScoreScorer(score, scoreMode, DocIdSetIterator.empty());
-    }
-
+      LeafReader reader)
+      throws IOException {
     // all terms matched in this segment
     if (skipper != null
-        && skipper.docCount() == context.reader().maxDoc()
+        && skipper.docCount() == reader.maxDoc()
         && skipper.minValue() >= minOrd
         && skipper.maxValue() <= maxOrd) {
-      return new ConstantScoreScorer(
-          score, scoreMode, DocIdSetIterator.all(skipper.docCount()));
+      return new ConstantScoreScorer(score, scoreMode, DocIdSetIterator.all(skipper.docCount()));
     }
 
     final SortedDocValues singleton = DocValues.unwrapSingleton(values);
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ public class SortedSetDocValuesRangeScorer extends Scorer {
       if (skipper != null) {
         final DocIdSetIterator psIterator =
             getDocIdSetIteratorOrNullForPrimarySort(
-                context.reader(), field, singleton, skipper, minOrd, maxOrd);
+                reader, field, singleton, skipper, minOrd, maxOrd);
         if (psIterator != null) {
           return new ConstantScoreScorer(score, scoreMode, psIterator);
         }