diff --git a/src/main/groovy/com/antigenomics/vdjdb/stat/ClonotypeSearchSummary.groovy b/src/main/groovy/com/antigenomics/vdjdb/stat/ClonotypeSearchSummary.groovy
index d63c5f7..e073c29 100644
--- a/src/main/groovy/com/antigenomics/vdjdb/stat/ClonotypeSearchSummary.groovy
+++ b/src/main/groovy/com/antigenomics/vdjdb/stat/ClonotypeSearchSummary.groovy
@@ -91,6 +91,9 @@ class ClonotypeSearchSummary {
     }
 
     ClonotypeCounter getCounter(List<String> columnNameSequence, List<String> columnValueSequence) {
+        if (columnNameSequence.size() != columnValueSequence.size()) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Column name and column value list lengths should match.")
+        }
         getCounters(columnNameSequence)[columnValueSequence.join("\t")]
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/groovy/com/antigenomics/vdjdb/stat/ClonotypeSearchSummaryTest.groovy b/src/test/groovy/com/antigenomics/vdjdb/stat/ClonotypeSearchSummaryTest.groovy
index 3ce47a2..99f6ef9 100644
--- a/src/test/groovy/com/antigenomics/vdjdb/stat/ClonotypeSearchSummaryTest.groovy
+++ b/src/test/groovy/com/antigenomics/vdjdb/stat/ClonotypeSearchSummaryTest.groovy
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class ClonotypeSearchSummaryTest {
         assert summary.totalCounter.unique > 0
 
         def getCounter = { List<String> values ->
-            summary.getCounter(colNames, values)
+            summary.getCounter(colNames[0..<values.size()], values)
         }
 
         // we only have viral infection in legacy db